Jeff Moden (12/27/2009)
I guess I don't understand the supposed dilema here... if Cumulative Updates really are cumulative and include all fixes since the last service pack, isn't that just as good as a service pack? Why not just pick one CU to test and settle for that?
MS themselves say they are not as good as service packs, if MS don't guarantee the results of applying CU's, personally I am steering clear of them. Go to the latest SP + any security patches and stick there
Remember how long we had to wait for SQL 2005 SP3 and the campaigning that appeared to be necessary before it was released? It looked at the time as if all the effort went into SQL 2008 release,and perhaps SP4 is suffering a similar fate. SP3 seems pretty stable so I am in no hurry for an SP4, when the backout of a service pack is an uninstall\reinstall who needs the stress?
An SP2 for SQL 2008 would be nice at this point. rather than muddying the waters even more with a release 2
There was never a final service pack for SQL 2000, just a hotfix rollup MS recommended you applied (as opposed to CU's which they don't recommend you apply). Even then there have been post SQL 2000 SP4 security patches (MS08-040) that have had to be applied.
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