Chosing a database

Hello.

I am designing an application that will run my computer repair shop and am having trouble deciding which database to use.

I was planing on using MS SQL but I do not have thousands of dollars to purchase a SQL Server License. I have SQL EE but I am not sure if I can use that for production software or if it is intended only for designing software. I also don't know if it has any limitations. I was told it had a 2 GB limit.

I am also thinking about using MySQL with my C# application. I believe it is just as fast as MS SQL and it would be free to use.

The third option was using XML however, I'm sure it would be a slow solution compred to the first two options. There is also a security issue with XML because any employee could locate the xml file(s), open them in Wordpad and view private data.

I'm not sure which solution would be the best. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You could use SQL Server 2005 Express edition (or 2008) which is free to use

It has a limit of 4GB and will only use one processor and 1GB Ram on your server - apart from that it is fully functional as a server and has not been detuned - Analysis Services are also missing, I believe.

These are probably not limitations for the application you are developing

You could couple SQL Server with free VS2008 Express and you have the full kit for developing C# applications for free

(They are also designed to go together like hand in glove so you will find plenty of examples and help along the way)

You should try the fastest database software i.e. LEXST. It is free to use, you can find it by visiting the url http://www.lexst.com.

Enjoy the world of fastest database..