Microsoft Delays Shipment of SQL Server 2008
Microsoft’s schedule for shipping SQL Server 2008 , the upcoming new release of the company’s database software, is slipping from June 30 into the third quarter. Microsoft recently disclosed the schedule change, described by the company as a “clarification on the roadmap for SQL Server 2008,” in “The Data Platform Insider” blog on the company’s Technet Website for IT professionals.Microsoft also revealed that SQL Server 2008 would still be celebrated at the company’s big launch gala in February, along with Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. However, it won’t actually be finished until the third quarter of the year. Instead, what Microsoft will deliver at its “Heroes Happen Here” event in Los Angeles next month will be a “feature complete” community technology preview or CTP of SQL Server 2008, according to the blog. “Microsoft is excited to deliver a feature complete CTP during the Heroes Happen Here launch wave and a release candidate (RC) in Q2 calendar year 2008, with final release to manufacturing (RTM) of SQL Server 2008 expected in Q3,” the post, by Francois Ajenstat, director of SQL Server marketing, said.Once considered a technology that could only handle smaller databases, SQL Server is now running data warehouses larger than 20 TB in size, according to Microsoft. Among the areas of improvement in SQL Server 2008 besides the business intelligence capabilities are better scalability and an easier way to develop against the database via technologies like LINQ, a new querying syntax.SQL Server 2008’s delay is relatively minor, especially compared to the two-year delay for its prior version, SQL Server 2005. Development of that database was slowed by numerous security fixes. Windows Server 2008’s RTM has also been postponed several times, though it is currently expected to ship around the time of the L.A. launch. Visual Studio 2008, by contrast, was released in mid-November.
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