This question has been asked before, but the times and technology seemed to have dramatically changed, so I find the need to ask again.
The changes being: * Compact 3.5 SP2 is deprecated (soon to be no support) * Compact 4.0 does not support replication/sync (yes there is a work-around, but that is not sufficient for enterprise solution)
For building a new application on the .NET stack, what technology should be used for the local database for an occasionally connected application.
The client platform will be a windows tablet (with windows 8.1/10 Professional). The server is current SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.
We're leaning towards just using SQL Server 2014 Express for the client db since Compact Edition seems sunset altogether. Also - using merge replication between client/local db and server db.
You could simply use Merge Replication between SQL Server Express and SQL Server 2014.
Or you could use RDA with SQL Server CE 4.0, basically as described here:
http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Windows-Tablets-Sync-Server-ebook/dp/B00D9YDKLU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
(The book uses 3.5 SP2, but 4.0 works fine as well: http://erikej.blogspot.dk/2011/03/snapshot-synchronization-with-sql.html )