It looks like MS SQL Server 2005 Express edition is being groomed as a replacement for MSDE, and it could have a lot of advantages RMS users. SQL express is free like MSDE, but without the silly workload governer (limits MSDE to 8 concurrent DB tasks), and would allow databases of up to 4 gigs (vs MSDE 2 gig). I suppose there would need to be some kind of certification, and Server express is still in beta, but wouldn't it be nice?
SQL Server Express replaces Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) in SQL Server 2005 and provides numerous ease-of-use features that enable it to be used by a non-professional developer or hobbyist. MSDE is based on SQL
2000 technology and is recommended for use with Windows 9x platforms, while SQL Server Express is based on SQL Server 2005 technology. SQL Server Express has features such as Application XCopy, Robust Setup UI, CLR support, GUI tools, and Visual Studio Integration that is not present in MSDE. However, some features are removed from SQL Server Express compared to MSDE. These features include DTS, replication publishing, and SQL Agent.
The use of merge modules for deployment has been a servicing problem for MSDE, and this functionality is not available in SQL Server Express. The workload throttle in MSDE was sometimes difficult to understand and use. In SQL Server Express, the throttle is removed and instead the engine uses CPU, RAM, and database size limitations to differentiate it from the other editions. The table below shows the comparison of these products.
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