>I am just doing some research on using msde possibly with vfp as the front-end? does anyone know how difficult it is to distribute msde and what are some of the common issues? for instance, if the customer wants their database stored on their server with multiple clients accessing it, what needs to be installed on the server and what needs to be installed on the client machine. with foxpro that's easy, but I am just not sure with msde. maybe I am missing something on microsoft's msde homepage but I don't see any clear examples of that scenario which would seem pretty common to me.

You should install MSDE on your clients server and create with enterprise manager of your laptop DB. Or attach done by you DB.
You should create ODBC connections on every client PC and to install your VFP app.