FAQ: Microsoft's SQL Server Data Services

But there were already a plethora of companies, mostly startups, operating in what some are calling the Database 2.0 market. is one. Others include , DabbleDB, GoogleBase, Zoho Creator, and a fistful of others, according to .

But Microsoft views SSDS as not only a cloud database, but as the data foundation for an entire ecosystem. With that scope of mission in mind, there are other incumbents. One is 's . Available since 2000, Intuit claims more than 225,000 customers of the service, which is aimed at business users looking to easily build and connect to other SaaS applications (in the QuickBase ecosystem) without the need for heavy programming skills.

Trying to grow beyond its CRM-on-demand roots, Salesforce.com the similar Force.com platform last fall. Force.com lets users store data for retrieval and usage by a small but growing number of apps, including some from third parties.

The best-known platform competitor to Microsoft and SSDS, however, is crosstown rival .

Yeah, I'd heard SSDS is just a belated, 'me-too' offering to compete with Amazon. Sort of, though please disregard any comparisons to Amazon.com's S3 online storage service. Despite being a big hit with the Web 2.0 crowd, S3 is fairly crude and doesn't really offer any database features.