Same here. Why MS is releasing a new version when 2005 have not captured the industry.
I've seen a report that companies in their droves are realising that Microsoft's Software Assurance doesn't represent any economic benefit unless there are more frequent product releases that at the same time offer tangible benefits and relevant new features.
Why would you need SA if you already bought into W2K3 and SQL2K5? My view is that most people would be quite happy on that platform for the next 5-10 years. This would mean a revenue stream for Microsoft drying up ... unless they can give people reasons to upgrade. Witness the "rush" to roll out Vista .....
3 yearly releases is more or less the norm, as I understand it. That said, from Nov 2005 to Feb 2008 is actually only 2 1/2 years.
I believe from my reading so far that SQL 2008 will make the jump from SQL 2000 even more attractive, so perhaps the reason is that MS has found the uptake of SQL 2005 not strong enough, so they are trying to get SQl 2008 out to get people off of SQL 2000 (... and SQL 7). As I understand it, MS only support the current and previosu release, so when SQL 2008 is out, that will make SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 the 2 'supported' releases.
How many of us grumbled about the five year period between the release of 2000 and 2005? Now we have a 2.5-3 year release cycle and some people still complain.
