SQL Server 2005 ships after five-year wait
Steve Ballmer, CEO, launching SQL Server 2005
Microsoft’s SQL Server has at last escaped the hothouse atmosphere of the development lab and made its way blinking uncertainly into the world. The official press release is fairly bland about the event :
SAN FRANCISCO ~ Nov. 7, 2005 ~ Microsoft customers and partners gathered today to show their support for the launch of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 and the upcoming release of BizTalk Server 2006. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer kicked off the event by highlighting the tens of thousands of customers and partners that played a major role in the product development process, providing ongoing input to deliver the next evolution in Microsoft’s application platform. Ballmer showed that with today’s launch, Microsoft Corp. is delivering a broad family of developer tools and server software that enable businesses to better connect their people, business processes and information, and give customers the ability to make better decisions faster.
The New York Times reports :
The new version of SQL Server, the first major one in nearly five years, is intended to improve Microsoft’s ability to compete with Oracle, the leading seller of corporate database software.
Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, unveiled the product to thousands of computer programmers in San Francisco. “This is a big, big, big launch for us,” he said, “as it should be since it’s been so long.”
Features of SQL server include “faster processing, better data analysis and report preparation, and tighter integration with Microsoft’s other software for corporations”, Microsoft said.
Prices range from around $6,000 per processor for the standard version to $25,000 a processor for the big corporate version.
“In an effort to woo developers and corporate users, Microsoft said it would offer a 50 percent discount to customers who move from products like Oracle’s during the next year.
“Microsoft also announced a free, stripped-down trial version of SQL Server, as well as a limited version of Visual Studio for $49,” the NYT reports.
[Sources: Microsoft and New York Times]
