Microsoft Corporation has released the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) for Visual Studio 6.0, a SQL Server 7.0-compatible data engine for mobile and shared solutions that can later be easily migrated to the full version of SQL Server. MSDE, which is available royalty-free from the Microsoft Web site, allows developers to build and deploy SQL Server-compatible applications without requiring their own customers to license SQL Server. It is also available as part of Microsoft Office 2000 Premium and Access 2000 as an alternative data engine to Jet. Developers can use tools such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, and Visual InterDev to build MSDE applications.
For more information, and a link to the free download, please visit the Microsoft Web site