SQL Mobile and MSDE

Hi,

I' am trying to determine if i should use CF 1.x with SQL CE 2.0 and MSDE for a new application or CF 2.0 with SQL Mobile and MSDE. I have been told that I cannot use merge replication with SQL Mobile and MSDE. So, I will need to create my own custom DB synchronization system. I was told that the solution MUST use MSDE since the client already has an application using this but with laptop computers. They want to have both the laptop solution and pocket pc solution.

With that said I have a few questions that should help me decide.

I heard from microsoft that CF 2.0 is not really beta that it is really a final product. Is this also true for Sql Mobile under beta 2?

Is there a ?Go Live? license for VS 2005 Beta 2 that will allow me to deploy the system for internal sales force use?

Do you know of any replication/synchronization solutions that currently support SQL Mobile to MSDE on a notebook?

Just as MSDE is the desktop version of SQL Server 2003 is there a desktop version of SQL Server 2005 (MSDE 2005) ?

If there is a MSDE 2005 will it work with SQL Mobile for replication and synchronization?

Also, any advice on the best synchronization model for a 3 tierd sync system. in other words. I have a server a laptop and pocket pc. I can either sync the pda to the laptop and the the laptop to the server or I can sync the laptop to the server and the pda to the server. I thought it would be best to sync the pda to the laptop then the laptop to the server this way the pda will sync to the laptop which will have a subset of the rows in the various tables. Otherwise the pda will sync to the larger tables on the server which seem like a slower and possible more complex task.

Thanks