I completely agree with Steve on this one... Arguments about who does what with SQL Express and that there is no DBA involved are hardly adequate when one is talking about a feature as important as the TDE. The feature should be there and then let the user choose whats done or not with it.

But I think this is overall just another indicator of how out of touch Microsoft is these days. Those of us who loaded Visual Studio 2008 only to find that it causes Winzip to cease to function have been all over Microsoft for months. Then Microsoft announced that the bug was "resolved". What was the resolution? They announced it will be fixed in the 2010 version. THAT IS A RESOLUTION?!?!?!

Or how about Office 2007 and the now infamous "ribbon". We delivered Office 2007 to a large segment of our client base. To date, more than a 1/2 of them have thrown it out the window and gone back to Office 2003. Microsoft responded to us "Well, they don't have to use the ribbon..." Yeah??? WELL WHY BUILD IT IN THERE THEN?!?!?

For 30 years I have been supportive of Microsoft, but over these last two years well, I have to admit I find the company often intolerable. They have lost their edge, and their way. They love over-complexity and gaping holes in products (like the TDE missing). This is a company so focused on selling us "new" products every couple years that they don't seem to care very much about the crud that goes out their doors.

As well, business wise, MS is stumbling badly too - read about it at any of these links...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/steve-ballmer-laughs-at-i_n_378518.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-galloway/steve-ballmer-is-carnac-t_b_148556.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/steve-ballmer-blue-screen_n_376013.html

I just thank God that in a couple years I can retire and be done with this kind of mediocrity. But as I look back I see one fatal flaw in the business model of this country. We should NEVER allow any one company to control things as MS has done. It stifles competition and level-headed thinking - and that is why the TDE is not there, and VS2008 is more like a virus than a product, and Office 2007 is like shoving rotted hamsters down a lion's mouth.

Microsoft - Where DONT you want to go today?