If you are having difficulty convincing others of the need to upgrade, it might be worth adding that Microsoft are now withdrawing support for SQL 2005 SP2.

That is they are counting down (it will take some time yet) to withdrawing support for SQL 2005.

As an aside, (under the heading of yet another software project muck-up) I remember (if I recall correctly) that the London Stock Exchange (allegedly) went live with their platform (that used SQL 2000) not all that long ago after Microsoft had withdrawn support for SQL 2000. :w00t:

It is always worth forward planning it seems, and developing against what Microsoft will (still) be supporting when the project is (eventually) released (over-budget and over-due).