MSDE is the desktop version of SQL 7. It has nothing in common with Access.
If I were developing a client-server application today, I'd have my developers running MSDE (with one person the designated DBA), and when the application got closer to being released, then I'd buy a copy of SQL Server to test against. If you've got a developer who is working from home, this could be handy, too.
It is also useful for when you've got salespeople with laptops. You can copy the database and logfile from a SQL 7 machine and put them on the laptop and once you point the ODBC at it, the software will run the same.
Only limitation is 2gb max database size. Which is not likely to be much of a problem in a demo/sales environment.
Chip H.