>>>>From a contrarian POV, on top of the benefits of only having to chuck a coiuple of DLLs into the deployment:
>>>>
>>>>You can use the Compact edition with the ADO.NET support for EF and Linq (native providers not OLDEB)
>>>>You can use SSMS to create/manage CE databases.
>>>>IIRC replicating to a main SQL server is supported?
>>>>
>>>>Admitted downsides:
>>>>4GB database limit
>>>>No Stored Procs.
>>>>No nested transactions ?
>>>>
>>>>But unlikely that any of the latter would be a show-stopper for Mark ?
>>>>
>>>I found last night this reference that may be very helpful
>>>http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb896140.aspx
>>>
>>>It shows what is supported / not supported in SQL Server CE vs. regular SQL Server
>>
>>Thx. Pity it didn't compare CE with SQL Express - I'm sure that's what most people would find most useful :-{
>
>
>Found this - bit old - http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/4/7/A47B7B0E-976D-4F49-B15D-F02ADE638EBE/Compact_Express_Comparison.doc

Just realized I'd got a reference to that from yonks ago. One take-way: The installed size of CE is 100th. that of SQL Express.
Amazing in a way that it doesn't lack more features .......