I was very happy to discover that our database product was mentioned in the list from Jon Davis of things Microsoft should be ashamed of (that they didn't do it first).  I happen to agree with Jon on a number of issues, but I also take things a few steps further when it comes to managed code.

See the complete blog post here - we are number 5 on the shame list

Microsoft should be a little ashamed of the fact that SQL CE is so hard to build and distribute.  I can't tell you the percentage of emails I get telling me how great our tools are compared to SQL CE, but it is a lot of our market.

SQL CE Limits are nuts

No stored procs? It is not a serious database then.

See the complete list of SQL CE limitations.  Is SQL CE fast?  Yes.  Can it be deployed on web sites, no.  Then it can't be used as a replacement for JET/Access that Microsoft keeps telling everyone they should stop deploying on websites.  How can the average developer if their client is on a shared hosting box and can't afford to rent a SQL Server per month for more than their entire current hosting fee?

Microsoft does not eat their own dogfood

Why is it that Outlook or some other major product is not using SQL CE as the client side engine?  Because it is too difficult to deploy and maintain!

Some people claim Microsoft just wants to push you up to their pay per deployment servers, but I don't believe that is the whole answer.  I don't think they trust Dot Net code enough for their own products.  Why isn't SQL CE implemented in C#?  Why must we deploy unmanaged and untrusted code to our products?  If I buy into the whole Dot Net experience (and I do) then why can't I get a 100% managed solution from Microsoft? 

Graffiti CMS is a good example

Teligent has also embraced Dot Net ( and VistaDB ).  They can ship a cross platform CMS today because of the Dot Net framework and Mono.  Why isn't Microsoft doing that as well?

Silverlight is another example

Silverlight 2 - with a super mega crippled Dot Net Framework included.  WHY?  The CF is not limited enough already? Either implement your model or don't.  Stop teasing me with less and less function sets to deploy apps with Dot Net.  Let me use the power of what you have built.  Put the full Dot Net Framework behind Silverlight and let it shine. 

Better yet, imlement some of your own Dot Net code and make it cross platform.  Novell currently ships a number of tools built on Dot Net that work under Linux and Windows.  Why is it that Microsoft is not taking advantage of this ability?  Are they still too married to their legacy code?  Or too married to their runtime platform?