Microsoft made a huge leap with their free SQL Server 2008 R2 Express edition by increasing the per database size limit to 10 GBs. Add this to the fact that Reporting Services is available with the Advanced Services edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 Express and there’s real reason to jump up and down. This edition provides a great on-ramp for companies with smaller requirements to start using SQL Server without having to pay license costs. Of course, as additional features are required and the database size limit becomes restrictive, companies will want to consider moving to the fully licensed versions of SQL Server.
SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Overview
SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Editions
