FAQ: Microsoft's SQL Server Data Services

So what isn't SSDS While Microsoft is using SQL Server 2008 (and Windows Server 2008) on the back end, SSDS is nothing like a Web-hosted version of SQL Server. That product has been available , though from hosting partners rather than from Microsoft itself. In that scenario, users often still need to manage -- albeit remotely -- a full SQL Server database, and usually to also buy SQL Server licenses and the underlying hardware.

The downside is that SSDS won't initially offer anything close to the features of SQL Server, which, while considered enterprise-grade today, itself still lacks many of the features of an Oracle Database or IBM DB2.

SSDS may also not be the only cloud-based version of SQL Server that Microsoft is working on. Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet that Microsoft is readying other hosted versions of SQL Server, including one with the codename 'Blue.' (SSDS' goes by 'Sitka,' for the .)

I work at a Fortune 500 company that already uses SQL Server. Would this be for me Maybe. While Microsoft is steering SSDS mainly at startups and Web-focused small to medium-sized companies that want to avoid the hassle of running their own on-premise database, it also says big companies that want to archive their data or share it other parties might consider SSDS. And due to its lower entry-level cost, departments within enterprises that want to start a Web project quickly (and without going through IT) may also like what SSDS offers.

Please don't tell me that Microsoft is actually pioneering this Web database space. Not at all. On the one hand, Redmond is far ahead of the other leading relational database vendors -- meaning Oracle, IBM, , even Sybase and Teradata -- none of whom have announced any cloud database plans.