SQL Server 2008 delayed until third quarter

Microsoft said on Friday that it has pushed back the delivery date of its SQL Server database until the third quarter of this year.

The company is planning to have a launch event, called Heroes Happen Here, on February 27 that will be a public coming-out of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008.

Rather than release the final product at that time, Microsoft will have a "feature complete" preview, according to a Microsoft employee blog dedicated to SQL Server.

A release candidate for SQL Server 2008 will come out in second quarter with final general availability in the third quarter, according to the blog's author, Francois Ajenstat, director of marketing for SQL Server.

The blog noted that the timing falls within Microsoft's previously stated goal of getting SQL Server 2008 out two to three years after SQL Server 2005, which itself suffered from a series of significant delays.

Despite the delays with SQL Server 2005, it has been a successful product. Market research indicates that Microsoft's database revenue is growing faster than that of rivals Oracle and IBM. Microsoft's server and tools business is one of the company's largest and fastest-growing divisions.

[Andy kaufman]

There is not really a need for SQL Server 2008

because SQL Server 2005 does a good enough job by itself. In fact, what most businesses need is more than covered by SQL Server 2000, and there is no need to keep upgrading to newer versions.

I mean what does SQL Server 2008 really offer that is different from what SQL Server 2005 already offers now or SQL Server 2000 offers way before that?

About the only thing I can think of is perhaps SQL Server 2008 has better security than 2005 or 2000, but I have no way of knowing that. I do know; however, that the SQL Slammer Worm is still out there, but any good Firewall worth its salt can block it, and any most recent service pack can protect SQL Server from a Slammer Worm attack.

Not only that but Sun bought out MySQL, and MySQL is growing to cover what SQL Server already provides, but for free in an open sourced package that is multiplatform. MySQL can run on Windows, Linux, *BSD Unix, Mac OSX, or any other OS it is ported to like Solaris/SunOS, OS/2, etc.

[suyts]

2008

To stay ahead. MS is forced to offer new functionalities to stay ahead of the rest of the world. You're right, MySQL offers almost everything that one needs for a DB program. Hence the need for MS to come up with something better. Like you, I don't know what's coming but I'm sure it will offer more functionalities. A word of caution though, anyone that believes that companies like Sun or IBM will remain benevolent if they win significant market share from MS is sadly mistaken.

[SpiritWater]

Plenty

If you don't know the difference then you're probably not a dev
or administrator.

SQL Server 2008 had change and data tracking built-in. It has
integrated encryption for all connections. Now you have to
manually configure that.

Text search is more integrated into the RDBMS than ever before.

Oh, and SQL Express is free so if your shop is Microsoft centric
then why bother with MySQL anyway?

We have MySQL for our bug database (bugzilla) and we're using
PostgreSQL (truly free for commercial use). MySQL is $695 a
server license for commercial use and that's hardly free for a
sub-par RDBMS. PostgreSQL is totally free and more robust than
MySQL by a long shot.

Break the Wedge!
www.breakthewedge.com

[conrad_gudgel]

What's Different?

1) IIS7
2) .Net Framework 3 support

Both are integral to Vista - so if you develop from a Vista platform or your development target is a Vista platform, you MUST have BOTH!

SQL Server 2005 will not help you here!

[amarkj]

GIS Support

SQL 2008 has GIS support too! FINALLY! Check out this cool demo of SQL 2008 serving up GIS data into Virtual Earth: http://www.followthegame.com and click on the behind the scenes tab to read about the technology behind it. It's great as it tells you what stations to tune into to hear the super bowl game. Great demo!

[fenoriso]

asd

http://fds.com