FAQ: Microsoft's SQL Server Data Services

The better comparison is with Amazon's Web-based database, called SimpleDB.

SimpleDB will offer basic, easy-to-use data processing features that don't require users to have DBA skills; easy scalability; a subscription model; and strong ties to other cloud-based infrastructure -- in Amazon's case, its application hosting service, EC2.

Sounds nearly identical to SSDS. For now it does, concedes Microsoft SQL Server architect Soumitra Sengupta, in a Monday on the SSDS Team blog.

The difference, writes Sengupta, is that Microsoft "has chosen to expose a very simple slice" of SSDS' potential capabilities -- unlike SimpleDB, with which, he implies, What You See (Now) Is What You Get.

With SSDS, "we will be refreshing the service quite frequently as we understand our user scenarios better. So you can expect to see more capabilities of the Data Platform to start showing up in our service over time. What we announced here is just a starting point, our destination remains the extension of our Data Platform to the cloud... In the meantime, can we agree that SSDS is simple but it is not SimpleDB."