Earlier today, Dr Neil posted about the idiotic article on CNNMoney.com regarding SQL Express not running on Vista. The argument was that somehow that would give IBM or Oracle a big help along. Neil correctly pointed out how silly the article is in many ways.

However, I think it's sad that SQL Server 2000 won't ever be supported on Vista or the upcoming Longhorn server operating system. The people justifying this refer to SQL Server 2000 with words like "such old technology". SQL Server 2000 was a current product only a year ago. ISV's bundling the MSDE with their applications last year aren't pleased to see them not easily upgradable within twelve months. People purchasing it last year won't be pleased to hear "such old technology" being used to describe it. While I understand the reasons and the sentiment on this, I'm still disappointed to see it.

SQL Server Express edition is generally a great replacement for the MSDE. The 4G database size limit, lack of a query governor, etc. are good news. People using SQL Server Express seem very positive about it. The only two issues I've heard raised are about it not shipping with SQL Server Agent and not being able to be a publisher in merge replication. There are third party agents now already available so that isn't a big issue any more.

Overall, SQL Server Express is a great story and outstanding value. I suspect both IBM and Oracle are more concerned about SQL Server Express in the long term than they would be pleased about a hiccup for a few weeks regarding Vista support. Service pack 2 rectifies the situation. It's in the CTP phase now and will be out very soon.

Greg