More about the different editions. . . What about developer edition?!?!?!?
Lots of folks have emailed about the announcement we made wondering about the future of developer edition (or SQL CE now known as mobile edition). Well, Developer Edition is alive and kicking. We just didn't talk about it since it's our Enterprise Edition but licensed for only test and development. Mobile Edition is also part of the lineup and you'll hear more about that edition in a few months.
Some other comments/suggestions I've heard:
1) If you haven't seen the SKU Feature Matrix, check it out at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2005/productinfo/sql2005features.asp. If you have any questions, let me know. We didn't list every nitty-gritty product feature but tried to include the high-level buckets. Some folks have made comments about including everything but we didn't want a 20 page SKU matrix for folks to understand the key differences between editions. Books Online will have the nitty gritty list.
2) Take a look at my spotlight at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/spotlight/expandsqlserver.asp It goes through some of the feedback we got from customers and partners about our product line. We don't just throw darts at a board and actually do talk to our customers/partners to figure out how to build our product line to meet the broadest requirements that you ask for.
3) Lots of folks asked about what was next for SQL Server 2005. We're still tracking towards our summer release. This will depend on getting customers deployed in production on the bits and the feedback we get from the community. While you're anxiously waiting for the release, you can expect to see a bunch more CTPs over the next few months to keep you going and excited about SQL Server 2005.
Any comments, questions, let me know.
Tom