Have You Checked Out the SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP Yet?

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Have You Checked Out the SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP Yet?

    Brad M. McGehee
    DBA

  • I haven't looked at it yet mainly because on the product I work on we're only just getting onto SQL 2005 with the version currently in development. Even then it's just a stepping stone as we aren't actually using any of the features not available in 2000 we just want to effectively get all our clients upto SQL 2005 so that we can then start using new features.

  • Where I work, we just finished retiring our last SQL 2000 server a few weeks ago and are now fully operating on SQL 2005. We just began the discussion on upgrading to 2008 last Friday. I'm playing with 2008 at home, but not enough to have anything useful to say about the new updates.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • I have to say I haven't looked at it much. This version is coming too quickly, and it's a lot of BI stuff, which I don't use much (yet)

  • I'm not sure many people know what an 'R2' release is (I'll ignore Star Wars jokes for now!).

    Maybe if they had called it 'SQL Server 2009' we might take notice, or 'SQL Server 2008 Version 2.0' perhaps.

    I remember thinking that Windows Server 2003 R2 was a different product to Windows Server 2003 and not something we needed to look at. The R2 suffix didn't make any sense.

    Bring back version numbers, Y2K is long gone...

  • Where I am at we have 270+ instances mixed about 60/40 at SQL 2005/SQL 2000.

    Our plan is to bypass SQL 2008 totally and thenpossibly look SQL 2008 R2 some time next year !

    RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."

  • At my last position we were still implementing 2005. No one wanted to take the time to look at 2008 yet.

  • We did look at it, but our product line requires tight coordination between Visual Studio and SQL Server. We found that there are some semi-serious glitches in VS2008 and SQL 2008 overall. We reported 5 of them to MS, with 3 being "show stoppers". So for what must be the hundredth time in my career I just put the brakes on the entire review process to give Microsoft more time to get things actually "right" before releasing, and thus we are standing on VS2005 and SQL2005 for now.

    I also agree with others who wish Microsoft would just go with version numbers and stop all the silliness with product naming.

    I also hope and pray that just one time, just one lousy time before I retire, Microsoft could put a release out that really works.

    But for now, like one of my staff members likes to say; "Just be thankful Microsoft does not build airplanes..."

    There's no such thing as dumb questions, only poorly thought-out answers...
  • We're mainly using SQL Server 2005 SP3 but we have a few instances of the RTM of SQL Server 2008 on a Vista desktop and some Vista laptops; we found 2008 is easier to install on Vista. I like the support for copy-only backups in the UI and the intellisense. We have no plans to move up to 2008 on our production servers yet and R2 isn't even on our radar yet.

  • I got the chance to try out R2 a couple of weeks ago, and am excited about the integration of Map objects into SSRS.

    Unfortunately, out of the box there are only US maps included, so I'll have to go hunting around for some Canadian maps, but the feature is impressive, and holds a lot of reporting potential.

  • Timely question because Donald Farmer just spoke about the Gemini project (among other things) today at a Oregon Business Intelligence Community users group meeting today. I hadn't heard much before the meeting but this is a truly significant release. I think R2 will have a impact on our organization.

  • Awe come on!

    In the last couple of months I have come to the decision to move our SQL 2000 instances direct to SQL 2008 SP1 missing out 2005, and leave current 2005 apps where they are. Trouble is I have been so snowed with other work I won't get round to it till next year, so now I have to think again and consider R2!

    Why don't they just release it as 2008 service pack 2?

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  • I also hope and pray that just one time, just one lousy time before I retire, Microsoft could put a release out that really works.

    But for now, like one of my staff members likes to say; "Just be thankful Microsoft does not build airplanes..."

    In software the airplane makers hires developers Microsoft will not touch, I helped a Boeing developer looking to move to x64 platform, one problem Enterprise multi use application was running without relational model no RDBMS or other persistence. So the Reporting layer of the application was a none starter, I told the developer it was not platform related but application design and object relational modeling.

    SQL Server RC2 problems comes from someone in Office wants SharePoint developers to control Microsoft BI, well SharePoint developers don't even know the relational end of SQL Server so something is not right.

    🙂

    Kind regards,
    Gift Peddie

  • Great news that SQL Server is moving forward. I have not heard about R2.

    IMHO, because of the global financial cricis, enterprises are reducing expences, so there is no rush for moving to new technologies. SQL Server 2005 works pretty well for us, and for the last 2 places where I worked not long ago.

    Even to study what is already in SQL Server 2005 has been taking a lot of my time for the last 3 years, and I have not finished doing it yet, not speaking about SQL Server 2008 (R2).

    Because SQL Server does no support other platforms (UNIX/Linux, iSeries, etc), it misses some new customers. These OS do not have viruses, like Windows. Even when you have installed the most recent antivurus (which reduces the performance of your box as well), there is still a chance that it will not detect new viruses.

    When Microsoft completely get rid of viruses, I feel that it will be a revolution. MS already is going in this direction with new version of Windows Server 2008 R2, but still it is a long way to go.

    Old customers are happy with SQL Server 2005. I cannot convince my management to buy SQL Server 2008 when everybody looks happy with 2005.

  • 1. Same as the one before me, SQL 2005 took some time for me to get used to. Even now, in the SSC email subscriptions, I am surprised there's much more to learn in SQL2005, in the topics. Perhaps I may get over trying to master everything in SQL 2005, someday.

    2. We just came into 'company standards' globally. Would you believe I cannot even place the latest SP on the Windows 2003 Servers? I was not allowed to have new laptops and computers in Vista Business even if they were OEMed as VB coming in? How much more for VS2008 and SQL2008 - I would probably be asked to justify this...bring out graphs, data and support for this business decision, blah blah.

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