No I am not joking. I am just asking a question to which I have not found a satisfactory answer so far. Maybe there is none just tell me.

As of now, I have looked at three possibilities :

SQL Server : about 600 euros per pack (in their ISV program)
MySQL : Goes down fairly quickly to about 120 euros (could be OK but from what I gathered on the net, link to Microsoft tools is difficult)
Oracle : Could not find pricing ideas online but from my personal experience probably in the microsoft range AND very heavy installation (overkill)

There are some packages which exist which have integrated databases which support what I need (Borland Delphi) for instance. It's just that going with the Visual Studio line seemed to make more sense.

I don(t need extensive transactions I basically just need a data repository in which I inserts periodically quite a few rows in a few tables and then a few simple selects. Nothing complex (just fairly big volume).

I hope someone will be able to help without flaming me.

Thanks

Pierre