<snip>
>I would consider it arrogant to just assume that you are making the right decision on your customer's behalf.
>
>Would you not agree?
<snip>

Hey Hugh. I think it's complicated, because, for instance, as an independent consultant, I frequently am *expected* to make the right decision. That's definitely their assumption! I don't think I'm arrogant to believe that I am doing so, if that's why I was hired. (I know your comment was not directed at me...)

This conversation has drifted into the general and theoretical, over the very precise concern you originally expressed over MSDE. Personally, I think it's appropriate to have a concern over ANYTHING that's free ("if it's too good to be true...."). But I don't know that the MSDE concerns that have been raised are really warranted once you take a closer look.

Or, put another way -- and I *REALLY* don't want to start a tangential thread here, I am just trying to draw what I think is an important and pertinent analogy -- the arguments against MSDE remind me of the arguments against VFP. "Will it be around in a few years?" "You don't know MS's strategy so how could you develop an app around this?" etc.