Search Server 2008 Express is based on SharePoint v3 but to take that fact and draw the conclusion that you should use it when you are showing a company what it is possible to do with SharePoint is in my opinion taking things way too far.

The reason for me even mentioning this is that I saw a couple of days ago a blog item from someone who claimed that they had abandoned using WSS 3.0 for proof-of-concepts at prospective SharePoint users but nowadays always used Search Server 2008 Express.

In the case he was writing about, they had a prospect for whom even MOSS would be free so it seemed odd to me that you should do any proof-of-concept with anything less than MOSS - after all if a customer who doesn't need to pay for MOSS decides on using SharePoint they are hardly likely to choose WSS 3.0 (or Search Server 2008 express!) because it's free.

So there was an "he's mad" indication right there but what about the "we've given up using WSS 3.0 and nowadays only use Search Server 2008 Express"?

Well, if anyone has been looking at the Microsoft forums they'll see that Search Server 2008 Express ("MSSX" from here in this piece) is much worse supported than WSS 3.0 / MOSS 2007 so I suppose to get support they are going to have to lie and say they are using WSS 3.0 .... Strike 1.

But let's assume they are right and technically (for team sites etc.) MSSX is WSS 3.0 plus more, then is this still a valid approach?

Not in my view, because you can in this case have your cake and eat it too, because you can install WSS 3.0 and then install MSSX on top of that.

So now you have both.

But do you have any benefits in doing things this way? Well as I think the whole idea of just installing MSSX is mad, I'm not going to spend time on trying it out and thus won't be able to give you a list of what you miss out on, with one VERY BIG exception that I already know about - size of databases.

You see, if you install only MSSX you get *for all your databases* the 4GB size restriction that comes with the version of SQL Server 2005 Express that that product installs.

If, on the other hand, you install first WSS 3.0 and then MSSX, you have (WSS 3.0) the "Windows Internal Database" version of SQL Server 2005 Express for your default database (which to remind the world once again - unlike the MOSS version - does NOT have a database size limit) and only the search databases used by MSSX use it's (4GB restricted) version of SQL Server 2005 Express.

... and before you ask, after you have installed MSSX on top of WSS 3.0, the database system it will use for any new "WSS 3.0" databases will by default be the (4GB restricted) MSSX version of SQL Server 2005 Express. However, like most defaults, this too can be over-ruled and your system told to use the WSS 3.0 (not size restricted) database system for all new content databases.

So there you are. Why it is foolhardy to install only MSSX.

Having written the above comes the thought "So why do they do it the way they do?" After all it would have been just as easy to carry on using WSS 3.0 for their proof-of-concepts.

Could it be that this was hidden marketing - "we know so much about SharePoint that we are advising you to use MSSX rather than the WSS 3.0 less well-informed companies are telling you to use! I've seen stranger things.