Steve,

The testing issue is the same whether you are installing a service pack or a CU with the primary difference being the interval between updates.

An example for us was the issue surrounding OPTION (RECOMPILE). We needed this functionality in SQL 2008 due to how we implemented data paging and sorting, but it was flawed. By SP1 they disabled it which, although lowered performance, actually improved results. CU5 fixed the problems completely and greatly improved performance for us.

Incidentally, SP1 had also broke ORDER BY in certain complicated queries. CU4 fixed that.

The point is, if we had ignored the CU's as it sounds like you are advocating then it would be at least 8 months (from now) before we would see that fix. With our application returning bad results the whole time. Our clients wouldn't appreciate that.

Which brings me to my point. MS should completely disband service packs altogether and instead improve their internal testing so that CU's run through the full testing framework. 2 Months is about right for fixes, 1 year or longer is a death sentence.

With regardes to having time to test, if an organization is not experiencing a problem on an internal application, then the only reason to apply updates is to get security fixes. For those, waiting 1 year or more is IMHO moronic. Waiting so long is exactly why Slammer and other SQL worms made their way through most companies. The updates had been available forever yet those worms took out a large number of servers.

Not having time to test can no longer be an excuse. To do so puts your company at risk.