Yes, I just read a post on a Microsoft blog which states: “Yes it’s true: MSDE will not be supported on Windows Vista“
SET RANT ON && My apologies
Put this in the category of “What the heck are they thinking!”
I am not sure who the powers that be are with respect to the decision, but I think the developer community needs to speak up on this one. I for one will be emailing Milind Lele (VFP Project Manager) about this. For years Microsoft has pushed the VFP developer and even the .NET developer towards SQL Server and MSDE 2000. For them to pull the rug out on us like this is a load of baloney. I applauded Microsoft when they included Vista (at the time referenced as Longhorn) compatibility on the VFP Sedna Roadmap. At the time I noted this was my personal number one request for the next version of VFP. The August 2006 letter from Milind indicates the Fox Team is hard at work testing this compatibility. I am excited.
So now the SQL Server team decides it is in my clients’ best interest to use SQL Server Express? I might agree that this is a long term goal, but I have not certified my apps to do this, and in fact have struggled with SQL Server Express to be cooperative. I believe the “high point” reasons are not enough. Come on, Microsoft Update is a big reason? I take care of my clients: don’t be concerned with this Microsoft.
The support life cycle is a minor problem in my opinion, but significant enough to consider. But honestly, if the SQL Server team was forced to fix any Vista incompatibilities with a service pack then Microsoft would have to bump the life cycle expiration (if they follow with the same action they have done for other products). The customers (us and the clients we service) would be big winners.
I understand the benefits of moving on up (except for the seriously slow Management Studio Express applet), but there are cold realities in this world of business and it is not always the practical decision to “upgrade.”
I hope Microsoft understands why I will not be recommending Vista to my customers who need and demand MSDE. I guess I can continue to load it on a Windows XP Pro machine, or even the “clunky” Windows 2000 machine sitting in the closet for those clients who want to get Vista-ized on their new desktops. But the clients who use MSDE are usually in a small office and I will just have to convince them to keep an older OS around. Or maybe I will have to recommend another backend database (Whil and Ted and the rest of the MySQL proponents need not comment {g}).
This is just one bonehead decision, and one I hope we can rise up and influence to change. It has been done before so the trail has been blazed. Get those emails sent.
I will post my findings as I learn more.
*< RAS 9-Aug-2006, keep commented until this problem is debugged.
*< SET RANT OFF
Rick,
Ok, you can breath now. Also, remember “not supported” doesn’t mean “won’t work.” I think there was a point when VFP was “not supported” on NT 4, but it still worked. Or, you had to put GDI on the Os or something.
Also, what type of troubles have you had with SSE? Has it been admin issues or operational?
BOb
Hi BOb.
Thanks for the breathing advice BOb. Yes, I am calmed down about this already. (bigger problems with a failing hard drive on my primary development machine – ya think it is related to my rant?? {g})
I guess you can say a little more administrative than operational. I installed it on a test box and followed the standard canned install.
So the first thing I did was set up a new DSN to a test database. The DSN connection test would not pass. It was all related to the allow remote connections setting, but that took me a while to figure out even with some Googling and all.
Your comment about NT4 and VFP was also a very tough choice. We did extensive testing on NT4 because we had one client who absolutely needed VFP 8 because of a bug which was not going to get fixed in VFP 7 SP1. He had a major installation with primarily NT4 boxes. It was a deal breaker. We spent a ton of time exercising the application and performing a complete system test. Fortunately, in this case we knew what a complete system test was.
How can I go about certifying everything in MSDE works? I can certainly test out my applications, but what if I am not using a certain type of stored procedure or performing backups a certain way and I realize I need this down the road. I doubt I can verify all of MSDE works on Vista. Microsoft on the other hand has the test tools and test suite to handle this, and the resources to ensure it works. I am much smaller and my bank account is not as fat.