Oracle Express can tun on both Windows and Linux. It's programming language PL/SQL is much more feature rich than T/SQL.

>Your user base most likely will stay at Windows , so .Net is no brainer comparing to Java.
>For database you may try third party embedded databases such as
>http://www.vistadb.net/
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>Don't know much about quality , but very convenient for stand-alone installations to distribute ( my concern is shrink wrapped applications with nice and smooth installation procedure ), just XCOPY of single DLL. It also works in client/server mode over TCP/IP.
>Express editions of SQL Server and Oracle were mentioned , don't know about Oracle , but SQL Server is still Windows service , plus the only way to install it is to run separate installer ( 80 MB ) which makes installation much more complicated for providing the same user experience, if things went wrong for some reason.
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>>I have been developing an accounting program since 1990 starting in FPD, thru FPW (horrors), VFP6 and 8 (big learning curve). This program has been added to and bandaided forever. What next ? I would like to choose something that MS is not going to drop, something that is accepted by the corporates so my program and user base is saleable in 10 years time. Is .NET and MS SQL server the way to go ? Or are there other easier to learn options that the suit and tie brigade are comfortable with. After seeing SQL server in action, I am not impressed with the speed, but maybe this will change as computers and the web get faster. VFP has spoiled me rotten with it's fantastic data handling, great functions and easy coding. However I feel I have to start re-writing now (from scratch) because the program is large and I am a slow learner.
>>Any comments ?