Originally Posted by
jmcilhinney
I would tend not to recommend Access to anyone these days. SQL Server CE and SQL Server Express can both be installed along with VS or separately and are both free. SQL Server Express does have some limitations but they won't affect new developers and it offers almost all of the power of SQL Server. They both integrate well with VS and can be very easily deployed. SQL Server Express requires a server to be installed but that can be done with essentially no effort, or you can use SQL Server CE without a server install.