[AccessD] OT - VistaDB

Last night, I stumbled across this site for VistaDB:

http://www.vistadb.net/default.asp

It is a .NET enabled db with a lightweight footprint. It supports SQL 92.

Features that stood out to me:
* Xcopy install - only 2MB is needed for everything - db engine and all data
providers
* Free runtime distribution
* Automatic Storage Recycling - reclaims space from deleted records - no
Compact & Repair required
* The complete suite (db, .NET, COM and Delphi data providers) costs $550 -
unlimited users
* Much more scalable than Jet in size and number of users

They really are committed to .NET, so their primary support is
.NET-centric - WinForms and ASP.NET. They support Mono and SharpDevelop, so
you could potentially make apps that run on Linux and Windows.

Downsides:
* No ODBC support - and none is planned
* No Stored Procs (promised in next version, in the form of CLR hosting,
which will allow you to write native .NET extensions to the db)
* No Views (promised)

The thing that really got me was, for around $500 (VistaDB .NET edition
($350) + VB.NET Standard Edition ($100)) you get a full-featured .NET db
development suite. Shave off $100 if you want to go with SharpDevelop/Mono.
Beats the pants off of a Visual Studio subscription.

-Ken