> Govt and large corporations won't even consider stuff thats free (even though they are usually as good or better than the pay for stuff) so that goes out the door too.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/1204/pol-nasa-12-04-00.asp

You might want to take a look at the above link. re Govt's not wanting to use Linux.

I hear what you are saying, re a DBA. I suppose there is not right or wrong answer here. Sometimes I just like to think that I can do it all. I hadn't taken that into consideration. or the time it takes to actually manage a full scale SQL server. and you are right. its time consuming.

Its not the first time I have bit off more than I can actually chew.

p.s I am traveling this week, and working off a stupid 56K dialup, from my hotel room.

I love being able view files on mysql server, (sitting in NY,) I am in los angeles now. just like they were on my local hard disk. The speed, including login time is truly great.

Just one final thought. There is Gentleman who visits this site quite often, (sorry I cant remember his name) but he works for State agency, in the south somewhere,his preferred method, is linux / postgres with a vfp frontend. While its true , its not the norm, and programmers, etc find it an uphill battle to suggest anthing which is Free, (because its not supported). That mind set is changing, and changing quickly. The free software out there / some good/ some crap, is making its way into our lives and if you have been watching the stock market in recent weeks, you know we are heading into a slowdown. At my company,I keep a close look out for what is good enough and we love the FREE.

Thanks for your comments.
Bob Lee