SQL Server Roadmap Update

Recent announcements have helped clarify the roadmap for SQL Server. Yukon, the code name for the next version of SQL Server, won’t ship until the second half of 2004, which could impact the schedules of other products that depend on it, and which means that some customers on Software Assurance could see their agreements expire before an update to SQL Server 2000 is available. In addition, Reporting Services, an add-on for SQL Server that generates database reports, should ship by the end of 2003 and will run on SQL Server 2000.

Microsoft also substantially dropped the price of the SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition in an effort to get more developers building solutions around SQL Server.

Yukon Slips

Yukon will introduce new capabilities, such as native XML and Web service support, improved replication, and higher availability and scalability. It also makes Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework the development environment for SQL Server applications. (For more information on Yukon, see the sidebar “What Microsoft Has Disclosed About Yukon“.)