Looking for RDBMS and GUI tool

I need to write an human resourse application. It will probably consist of a database server and many GUI clients. Users should be able to do queries and updates through the GUI. Both the database and the GUI should run on PC. The databse won't be too large. Probably containing from a hundred to at most 10,000 records. What database would you recommend for this task? Also what are the relative merits and weaknesses of the RDBMS's out there (Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Ingres, Microsoft etc). I'm also looking for a GUI builder that works well with a RDBMS, and hopeful a provides compiler as well. What would you recommend? Please reply through email since I don't get a lot of chance to read news. Thanks a lot. Andy