>>Doesn't seem that expensive to me, especially compared to other large database systems, like Oracle.
>>
>>And then of course keep in mind that this list does not include two other versions of SQL Server: SQL Express and SQL Compact Edition, both of which are completely free of charge...
>>
>>Markus
>
>I agree. $3700 is what you'll pay a database programmer for a couple of weeks work. Try writing the functionality and reliability in VFP using DBC/DBFs. How much will it cost? How much have you spent in programmer time and development frameworks using VFP to get data reliability and recoverability?
>
>This software is (or should be) the foundation for almost any company's data storage, organization, and retrieval. It has an amazing amount of functionality and it is absolutely rock solid. Smaller data requirements can be handled by the free versions of SQL Server which still have the functionality and reliability.
>
>It is the fastest database I've dealt with, and a lot easier to work with than others. It is supported extremely well by a massive company that considers this a flagship product.


Agreed. That was an eye opener for me, having joined the FoxPro world in part because "nothing runs like the Fox." My tune changed when the company I worked for at the time rewrote the app in C and SQL Server. Our main process went from running in several hours to running in 45 or 50 minutes. And that wasn't because it was bad FoxPro code, either. For a while I was convinced I had screwed up in some horrible way and eventually satisfied myself that it was as optimized as it could be. I ran timing loops on the performance bottlenecks and SQL Server was just plain faster.