How Does SQL Server Express Address These Issues?
Developers, architects, and IT managers all over the world have been discussing the aforementioned issues for several years. While there aren't solutions to all of these problems, SQL Server Express has addressed many of them by making some fairly fundamental changes. Before you get caught up in the differences, it's important to know what hasn't changed. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is still free (with the usual licensing and use restrictions), it still supports subscriber replication and virtually all of the same features as MSDE. The new SQL Server Express version cannot host Reporting Services, but it can be a data source for a server hosted on SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition. (For more information on SQL Server Reporting Services, see the Boost.net Web site.) By default, setup still disables the ability to expose the SQL Server Express instance to the network (as was first implemented in MSDE SP3). Let's take a closer look at SQL Server Express to see how it addresses each of the issues