Simon,
Check out www.takenote.com. Jim Duffy has been using MSDE and VFP for years on production applications. He may have some white papers on the subject behind the registration wall (I think it's free).

Personally, without having used it in a production environment, I don't think you base the decision on whether to use it on performance. You base it on connectivity and security. If you are working remotely and require security for the data, then MSDE is the cheap way to implement it (SQL Server being the expensive way to go).

HTH.

>Could someone who has used MSDE in a released project comment on its' suitability for small scale applications where the installation of a proper SQL Server system is not possible due to cost or infra-structure limitations?
>
>Furthermore, how did you justify using MSDE when native VFP data would give much better performance (or wouldn't it)?
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>I have read the white paper from Rick Strahl on the pro's and con's of moving from VFP to SQL for websites and much of that is relevant to this scenario as well.
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>I have identified reduction in complexity due to only having one code base to work on; however are there other factors?
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>Thanks for any and all comments.
>
>Simon