My applications don't deal with databases that are large enough to require SQL Server or Oracle and my clients are not in a class inclined to want to pay for those services, so those are not issues I deal with. I'm tempted to play with MSDE to make use of my software practical over VPN, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

That said, my applications all access modest databases directly via shared file access, so transactions, buffering and tags are all the same whether the server is a Win2k domain, Win2k standalone server, or any system capable of file sharing. My feeling is NT/Win2k/XP are both better designed and designed to work as a servers, and therefore do so more efficiently than Win9x/ME and under heavy loads they will be more responsive. But, unlike in a client/server situation, unless the server hardware is really old, the limiting speed factor for my software is ususally the networking hardware. I.e.: How fast can the network transport the bytes to or from the server.

Buffering, I believe, has reduced the risk to data by holding it in memory and performing updates in a burst when my TableUpdates are issued, so the window when data is being sent to the server is smaller and less likely to be interrupted. Since I am using file sharing rather than a client/server database, VFP transactions relate only to failures of the sort where somebody else changed the data with optimistic locking or a trigger fires and I need to rollback the transactions. I don't believe VFP transactions buy me anything regarding network failures.

In these regards, I don't see the issue as domain vs. peer-to-peer. The issue is reliability of the network and its component systems, as Al pointed out, and dedication of the server machine to a server roll, rather than as part-time workstation, regardless of whether or not a domain is involved.

Really large client/server databases are another issue entirely. It seems to me that most client/server systems designed to handle large databases and large numbers of clients require domain environments for manageability alone.