Bekker's Blog

Blog archive

SQL Server 2008 RTMs

Microsoft reached a major milestone in its journey to market with SQL Server 2008 with the release to manufacturing of the product today.

Microsoft's launch channels and processes are so massive, varied and complex that a little explanation is required. RTM in this case means that SQL Server 2008 is available now for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. An evaluation download will be available tomorrow. Meanwhile, SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available now. Pricing is unchanged from SQL Server 2005.

As with any major release, the official release has a kind of loose sense anyway. According to Microsoft, there had already been more than 450,000 downloads by customers and partners of community technology previews, more than 75 large-scale applications are already inn production and nearly 1,000 ISVs are developing applications on the database.

Major new features this time include support for policy-based management, larger-scale data warehousing, geospatial data and additional reporting and analysis services.

We ran a piece in the magazine a few months ago highlighting partner opportunities in the database. It's still available for download here.

Are you seeing new business possibilities with SQL Server 2008? Let me know what you're up to at [email protected].

Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 2008


Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.