Is Crystal Report 9 compatible with MS server 2008?

I am going to pay for some classes to learn MS SQL server 2008.

To prepare for the classes, I need to install MS SQL ser开发者_JS百科ver 2008 in my home PC so that I can do some self-learning myself after each lesson.

I came a cross a PC store that got a few second-hand copies of SQL server 2008 and

as they (the shop keepers) said, if I bought a copy from them, they would give me a free copy of Crystal Report CD (version 9) to me as a gift.

I am new to both MS SQL server 2008 and Crsytal Report.

I don't know if Crystal Report 9 is compatible with MS SQL server 2008

Please advise and help.

Unless you are going to need Crystal Reports for this class or a class you are taking in the near future, or need some of the extra functionality of the full version SQL Server for your class (such as Replication), why not just use the free SQL Server Express Edition? Unless your class concerns administration of SQL Server, SQL Server Express should suit your purposes and be a lot cheaper.

CR9 should be compatible to some extent with MS SQLServer 2008 - even if the Crystal native drivers for MS SQLServer don't work (I would expect that they would), you should still be able to use ODBC drivers.

That said, unless the second-hand copies are extremely cheap, why not just download SQLServer Express for free, as suggested by the other posters?