I had never really heard of these guys before. But, I'm a huge fan of .Net and wish they could keep going. Open sourcing it would be great but I know I would have a hard time letting it go. I wonder if this thing could have worked in Azure as an in memory DB. You could use it as an interesting type of mem cache.
I have been an actual user of VistaDB for almost 4 years now. Jason who is deciding to close down the company had bought it from the original owners a few years back.
It is really good software, especially if you are a .Net programmer needing a simple database for installation on a customer's computer.
With you being a fan of .Net, do you have any recommendations for a simple database to use with .Net that can easily be installed onto a customer's computer.
VistaDB was very simple to install. You only had to copy the .dll to the installation directory and it worked.
The new web-enabled version of SQL Server CE that shipped with WebMatrix is shaping up to be a good option. Going that route gives you a great upgrade path from embedded, to the free SQL Server Express, to the more powerful versions of SQL Server if your needs grow.
I'd guess that the new SQL Server CE release this week had something to do with this VistaDB development.
The version of SQL Server CE bundled with WebMatrix is the first version of SQL Server CE that will run on a web server. Older versions were good for things like desktop apps, but were restricted from functioning in a server environment.
WebMatrix definitely isn't needed to use it afterward (WebMatrix is just an IDE), but is the easiest (only?) way to get the new version of SQL Server CE right now.
This announcement moves SQL CE fully into the space where it actually competes with Vista DB (previously CE was primarily used only by desktop/mobile/embedded apps). I wonder if that has any bearing on the decision to kill off Vista DB?
