Sembra che Microsoft voglia a tutti i costi portare la sua clientela a migrare le attuali installazioni di SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (noto anche come MSDE 2000) a SQL Server Express.
Questo pomeriggio Ed Lehman ha fatto il seguente post sul ng privato MVP di SQL Server:

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) will not be supported on
Windows Vista. Please be advised to upgrade your MSDE applications to SQL
Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Express) at the earliest opportunity, if
Vista compatibility is essential for your business. Technical guidance and
migration resources are available to you make this transition (refer below
for additional information). As is the case of MSDE, SQL Express is free to
download, deploy, and redistribute.

There are several significant benefits to upgrading MSDE applications to SQL
Express.  Benefits include increased maximum data base size of 4 GB, removal
of the workload governor, a free, integrated management tool (SQL Server
Management Studio Express), SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and
importantly serviceability with Windows update.

Given the above-mentioned facts and that MSDE is nearing the end of its
support lifecycle, we decided that our customers would be best served by
focusing our engineering resources to test and validate SQL Server 2005 on
the new Windows Vista/"Longhorn" platform. Accordingly, our proposed
strategy is to provide a clear upgrade path for our MSDE customers to the
new SQL 2005 platform, rather than invest on making very significant changes
to SQL 2000 editions to run on Vista.

As the plan of record, MSDE mainstream support (on Operating System releases
before Windows Vista) will continue until April 8, 2008 (extended support
until April 8, 2013). Additional information can be obtained at MSDE
Mainstream and Extended Support Retirement Dates.  Also, no new MSDE
redistributions will allowed after June 30, 2007. Customers and partners can
sign up for royalty-free redistribution rights for SQL Express here.
 
Additional Information and Links

• SQL Express Download (website)
• Benefits of Upgrading MSDE to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition  (website)
• SQL Server 2005 Express Customer Evidence (website)
• SQL Server 2005 Express Datasheet (datasheet)
• SQL Express Redistribution Rights Registration (website)
• SQL Server Express Blog (website)
• MSDE Mainstream and Extended Support Retirement Dates (website)
• Upgrading from MSDE to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (white paper)
• Managing SQL Server Express with Management Studio Express (white paper)
• Reporting Services in SQL Server 2005 Express (white paper)
• Running SQL Server on "Microsoft Windows Server Longhorn" or Microsoft Windows Vista (website)
• SQL Server 2000 (including MSDE) on Windows Vista FAQ (website)