Hmmm... Free copy of VistaDB 2.1!
… and all I need to do is place the following blurb on my blog:
VistaDB 2.1 database for .NET has been released
This 2.1 update includes over 60 improvements, including new support for .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005. VistaDB is a small-footprint, embedded SQL database alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express 2005 that enables developers to build .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 applications. Features SQL-92 support, small 500KB embedded footprint, free 2-User VistaDB Server for remote TCP/IP data access, royalty free distribution for both embedded and server, Copy ‘n Go! deployment, managed ADO.NET Provider, data management and data migration tools. Free trial is available for download.
Consider me signed up! ;-)
OK, seriously, I haven’t had a chance to play with this, but in reading through some if it’s features it offers several that are unique. The most important being that it’s truly Xcopy deployable. SQL Mobile would the excellent for this type of deployment, except it’s licensing is reduced to only allowing deployment on pocket devices and Tablet PC’s. So the next step up would be SQL Express… which requires an installation on top of the framework. Not a bad solution, however, it would be nice if I could just provide an application that could be completely Xcopy deployed. I’ll have to give this product a serious look through… and being free sure removes any barrier to giving it a deep look see.
(In all honesty though, if SQL Mobile didn’t have it’s licensing restrictions, I’d probably have a different opinion… So to Microsoft… hint… hint… )
Oh yeah… if you have a blog… go get yours by using the link above. ;-)