>Well, I didn't have a clue about how to develop using SQL or its little brother MSDE two
>years ago... so I read up on it, and immediatly realized you needed something else to do
>administrative items (Access, SQL Developer, etc).

Well, technically, you don't: MSDE installs OSQL, and there's nothing you can do in Enterprise Manager than you can't do with OSQL.

Of course, I'd rather pound nails with my fivehead than try to do substantial setup with nothing but OSQL. :-)