Just got put in charge of a big web project. All I know is the web server is running MS SQL 2005, so I need something comparable to test locally. I figure developer edition is my best bet because it offers everything that the enterprise edition does, but is for development purposes only.

But this page is pretty worthless http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/developer.aspx

Where do I actually download it? What about SQL 2005 Express? Would that meet my needs? I can't figure out all the differences between these stupid MS products.

2 Answers

As already pointed out, the developer edition is no longer available. See here for a brief overview of the differences between the different editions of SQL Server. SQL Server Express should be fine to get started with. If you have an MSDN subscription, you can just download the edition in-use on the web server.

I've only seen it on DVD as part of an MSDN subscription... That may be the only way to get it.

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