>>What do you see as the disadvantages to using MSDE?
>
>The only real advantage I can see to MSDE over VFP tables is if you will go to SQL Server in the near future. But, even that is not a given. MSDE is optimized for five users. What if you need 10, 15, 20, or 100? Is the cost justification there for getting into SQL Server?

I had looked at MSDE about a month ago. The info on the MS site positioned it as a lightweight demo version of SQL Server. If you develop an app that requires SQL to run and want to build a small limited use demo (to download from a web page say) you could include MSDE in SQL's place. Once the demo app was installed it's supposed to be pretty painless to replace it with SQL.

I was of the opinion that it was never meant to be a real back-end in a working app. Although some people in my user group had mentioned that they were planning on using it in place of SQL to get a free secure backend.