Srdjan,

We've seen record and index corruption in SQL Server more than once, and that was in large hospitals with heavy UPS/redundancy etc etc. We've seen customers allowing their transaction logs to fill up. We've seen customers using wrong versions of ODBC drivers. But if the database and its server are properly maintained, we've seen very few problems since 1995.

MySQL can be a good cheap option as long as you don't distribute it with your app, because then there will be licensing issues. But there is still a real cost involved with maintaining any C/S database. If you're lucky the customer may already have a C/S database for some other app and has all the necessary procedures in place. Otherwise you need to implement management processes along with the database. Unless your firm already has a maintenance team, one definite benefit of SQL Server is that your local Microsoft shop will be able to refer you to local contractors eager for the work who will echo your recommendation for professional maintenance services. You'd be wise to examine the local market to see exactly what sort of resources are available.

We've used Remote Views extensively since 1995 and have found it very easy to move between backends. Take a look at www.xcase.com that offers a very easy way to create and maintain databases in multiple backends, and to create views against each of them.