SQL Server 2008 to finally be released, but probably not in August

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published July 9, 2008, 6:46 PM

Giving itself a little more wiggle room, company representatives stated at a conference today that the new database server would be "priced" in August, leading some to conclude that's when SQL Server 2008 would be released.

After having promised that the eventual release of SQL Server 2008 would take place within a six-month timeframe from when it was originally scheduled -- during the "Heroes Happen Here" launch last February -- the latest Microsoft could possibly extend the product would be late August. Of course, once again, that depends on what you call "release."

This afternoon, some of the company's bloggers confirmed a statement that was overheard as having been uttered by an employee during the company's partners conference in Houston. SQL Server 2008 will "make the price list" in August, which means that customers will officially see what price they will pay for the product next month.

As the company's director of product development for SQL Server explained in a blog posting this afternoon, that enables Microsoft to extend the goal post at least one more month, creating the possibility that customers will actually see the product in early October.

"This means that customers and partners will soon be able to place their orders for SQL Server 2008," wrote Microsoft's Fausto Ibarra, "as we get ready to RTM in Q3 of this year."

The news means that Microsoft can meet its scheduled date of November 12 for the release of Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008. Both Windows Server-based packages for SMB customers will be available with buildout options that include SQL Server 2008.

Comments

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MySQL FTW. I seriously don't understand why people pay to use IIS and mssql when mysql is free and just as good. On top of that its opensource so if you need to mod it for whatever reason you can do it.

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MS SQL Server 2005
Strength
• Superior replication, clustering, and security
• Best for enterprise-level apps.
• Better for windows applications.
• Tightly integrated with VS.net.
• Advanced reporting controls
• Advanced data management tools

Weak Point
• Complex replication.
• Expensive License

MySQL 5.x
Strength
• Relatively Inexpensive License.
• Easy replication.
• Better suited for Unix/Unix-like systems and well for windows.
• Multiple storage engines (6)
• MySQL is most effective for read-only environments and the web/edge tier applications
Weak Point
• Relatively lower Security
• MySQL is not effective for applications in demanding OLTP environments, requiring enterprise-class reliability, availability, and scalability.

Opensource but who will mod it? You have to pay money to mod it, or stop your work to mod it. It doesn't simple as you think.

MySQL isn't free for commercial but MS has SQL express edition which is free and can be use for commercial.

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