I have been anticipating the release of Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition (formerly Everywhere Edition). They have just released it on January 11 2007. I have been watching this project the past few months, and I am looking forward to using this on an upcoming project I will working on.
Quote from the Overview: “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition (SQL Server Compact Edition) is designed for developers who need light weight, in process relational database solution for their applications that can be developed and deployed on desktop as well as on mobile devices. SQL Server Compact Edition Runtime can be used to develop and deploy applications on desktop.
SQL Server Compact Edition is a powerful, yet lightweight relational database engine that makes it easy to develop desktop applications by supporting familiar Structured Query Language (SQL) syntax and providing a development model and API consistent with SQL Server. When compared to its previous release, SQL Server Mobile, SQL Server Compact Edition includes new features like DataDirectory and ClickOnce support for ease of deployment (Please see SQL Server Compact Edition Readme)”