SQL Server 2008 R2 is RTM
A co-worker of mine told me the other day that SQL Server 2008 R2 had gone gold. A bit of research revealed that Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the Business Platform Division at Microsoft apparently announced the RTM status in a conference call. Customers will be able to get this latest version of SQL Server as of the 13th of May and MSDN adn TechNet will be able to download it the 3th of May. The free express edition can already be downloaded. Even though official prices haven’t been revealed yet, it is expected that they will rise by 15 to 25% in comparison to R1.
Now that SQL Server 2008 R2 has gone gold, finally more details about the different versions are becoming available about the different edtions, which makes it easier to determine which version one requires. It seem geographical maps are available in all version. Shared components, however, are available from the Standard edition onward. I’m still sifting through posts with information on what has changed (apart from the obvious). One thing is for sure, to Integration Services there really have not been that many features added.