I think none of that really matters until we see the price. There's a trial version and a free version of Microsoft SQL, but their full version can quickly top

I think none of that really matters until we see the price. There's a trial version and a free version of Microsoft SQL, but their full version can quickly top $20k without much effort - knowing how bad your "ouch" will be is key before I'd spend any time on the "ahhhh."