This may be a little late to the party - but we're the developers of Alchemi. We've developed a better version of the framework to address its limitations.
You might want to check out the Utilify Platform (www.utilify.com) - which is conceptually similar to Alchemi - with a more flexible model.
You do need a grid manager, and a database - however, you could use the free SQL Server Express version and it is tested to work on Windows Vista, XP, 2003.
We're happy to help you in using Utilify for your application.
Regards,
Krishna
