I don't know if you've discovered this or not - but Microsoft now offers (for free) the front-end tools for SQL 2005 Express. I just downloaded and installed them. You get SQL Enterprise Manager and the online books too ... all for free. I presume the only limitation is the number of concurrent users on the development machine - like MSDE has always limited you to - but the limitation of no management tools for it no longer exists.
Regards,
-CB
