>I currently have a VFP8 application which accesses MSDE data via remote views and SPT. I would like to replace MSDE with SQL Server 2005 Express. Are there any potential problems I should look out for? Is it just a simple matter of installing SQL Server and will all current ODBC connections be retained? Should I uninstall MSDE first? Can the MSDE tables be read by SQL Server Express without change?
Yes to all...
The one thing you'll want to be aware of is that Sql Express is a lot more resource hungry than MSDE so make sure you have the hardware to run it well. In addition some folks have mentioned that there are some performance in the 2005 engine vs. the 2000 engine, although I haven't personally seen that. You should also ensure you install SP1 of Sql Express since there have been a number of fixes and tweaks in that first update.
+++ Rick ---