Hi Al,

>Sure, you can install MSDE on an XP Pro or W2K Pro box, but you're limited to 10 connections to it so you can't reach the 20 users JD claims can be reasonably supported.

10 connections?? Oh really? That is news to me. Would you mind telling me where you're getting your information about 10 connections from? BOL clearly states that

"A concurrent workload governor limits the performance of the database engine in the Desktop Edition (MSDE). The performance of individual Transact-SQL batches is decreased when more than five batches are executed concurrently. The amount each batch is slowed down depends on how many batches over the five-batch limit are executing concurrently, and the amount of data retrieved by the individual batches. As more batches are executed concurrently, and as more data is retrieved by each batch, the more the governor slows down the individual batches. You can use the DBCC CONCURRENCYVIOLATION statement to report how often the concurrent workload governor is activated."

I'm not seeing anything about 10 connections anywhere.

I'm eager to hear where you got your information from.