I've been following Vista DB for a little while now... basically they have built what is a small footprint database engine for cleanly embedding into an application... no MDAC incompatibilities (with Access/SQL Server), no external service that has to be installed/maintained/(another 24/7 virus target!), and runs in the same process space, so restarts are completely under your [application's] control. And I'd like to get my free copy ;-) VistaDB 2.1 database for .NET has been releasedThis 2.1 update...