Press Release

Size Matters: VistaDB Fills Microsoft Void

VistaDB to the rescue of .NET developers overburdened with SQL Server size, configuration and deployment issues

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Oct 25th, 2005 – Vista Software today announced relief for .NET developers seeking to create small-footprint SQL database applications that can be distributed easily over the Internet. The company has introduced a new VistaDB Server product with their latest 2.1 release that provides true client/server support in a small 700KB footprint, which is over 100 times smaller than SQL Server Express 2005. This new VistaDB Server extends the company's popular embedded SQL database engine products, which feature an even smaller 500KB footprint, into the client/server arena.

"Not all applications require the power of Microsoft SQL Server. Most developers struggle with having to deploy 100MB of SQL Server deployment files when their core applications are only a few megabytes in size.", stated Anthony Carrabino, President and CEO of Vista Software. "VistaDB fills a big need of C#, VB.NET and Delphi developers to build robust small-footprint, easy-to-deploy .NET database applications."

Missing the small picture

Microsoft's dominating position in the developer tool and database markets with its myriad of Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server product offerings should provide developers with everything they need to develop database applications. Or so it seems.

"SQL Server is a great product but it is often overkill for developers building small to midsize database applications," stated Carrabino. "Developers do not need enterprise level database power for every application they create. Microsoft has done a great job delivering solutions for building big database applications, but they have failed to address the needs of developers building smaller database applications. VistaDB addresses this need."

Microsoft deprecates Jet

According to Carrabino, Microsoft created a void in the embedded database space when they deprecated their Jet engine, which was their only embedded database product. Jet is the underlying engine used by MS-Access to manage .MDB database files and by Outlook to manage it's data store. Microsoft announced that they are migrating all internal applications based on the Jet engine to SQL Server, leaving developers that rely on Jet to rethink their embedded database strategies going forward.

Jet is one of the most widely used embedded databases in the world and has been used by developers for over 15 years to build embedded database applications. Jet consists of 20-30 files plus Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) that total approximately 20MB in size. Numerous files coupled with the many releases and updates over the years, Jet applications are challenging to deploy and often suffer from versioning issues, stated Carrabino.

Microsoft does not sell Jet as a stand-alone product and Microsoft allows Jet to be freely deployed, which means there is no direct financial incentive to support Jet. Adding to it's limitations, Jet is not a client/server solution and it never will be since that would make Jet compete with SQL Server, stated Carrabino. This means that multi-user Jet applications that run in shared network environments will continue to suffer from data corruption, locking and poor performance issues.

VistaDB to the rescue

According to Carrabino, VistaDB provides .NET developers with three key benefits over Jet, MSDE and SQL Server 2005. First, VistaDB reduces the overall size of database applications down to a few megabytes. This encourages end-users to download and try software developed using VistaDB, which increases ROI for VistaDB developers. Second, the VistaDB embedded solution reduces the complexity of deploying applications since it requires no configuration on end-user machines, which improves the end-user experience. Third, VistaDB is royalty free so there are no deployment licensing issues to deal with.

The VistaDB embedded database engine for .NET consists of two files: a 500KB core data engine and a 140KB managed .NET Provider. Developers include these two VistaDB files along with their .NET applications when they deploy. The VistaDB Server is 700KB in size and consists of a 200KB VistaDB Server application plus the 500KB core database engine. This means developers can build full-featured embedded or client/server VistaDB applications using two or three files that total less than 700KB in size.

"End-users are more willing to download a VistaDB application from the Internet that is only a few megabytes in size compared to a SQL Server Express 2005 or MSDE application that must ship an extra 100MB of files. Not to mention the SQL Server installation and configuration issues that follow.", stated Carrabino.

This announcement falls on the heels of the company's latest VistaDB 2.1 release, which delivers improved support for the Microsoft .NET 2.0 and .NET Compact Framework 2.0 platforms.

About VistaDB

VistaDB is the #1 embedded SQL database engine alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express for building small to midsize WinForms and ASP.NET database applications. Featuring a small 500KB footprint high-speed embedded SQL database engine, robust single-file data store that supports up to 4TB of data, rich data types, Snapshot isolation transaction processing, managed .NET Data Provider for .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0, VCL components for Delphi/C++Builder Win32 development, COM objects for VB6 and classic ASP, database management utilities, zero administration Copy 'n Go!™ deployment and free unlimited distribution.

About Vista Software

Founded in southern California in April 1999, Vista Software specializes in building high performance database engines that are used by software developers to build robust database applications.

References

Microsoft deprecates Jet components
Microsoft Jet Best Practices

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