For those of you who haven't seen the announcement, we added a new edition called Workgroup edition to SQL Server 2000. Check out the release at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/feb05/02-24ExpandedProductSuitePR.asp
We also announced an OEM agreement with Dell so for all you Dell customers out there, you should be excited about that.
As if that wasn't enough, we laid out the editions and feature set in SQL Server 2005. We've added value across the product line. Features that were in Enterprise Edition in 2000 have even come down to Workgroup Edition in 2005. Standard now has 64-bit and unlimited RAM. .NET and XML is integrated across the product line. Lots and lots of exciting features to talk about across every edition!
I just finished up the press tour for the announcement and met with some customers in NY. Exhausting trip but invigorating to see the excitement from customers about SQL 2005.
Final note, some folks are confused about the memory limits of Workgroup Edition. In SQL Server 2000 Workgroup Edition, the limit is 2GB. In SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition, it raises to 3 GB. The reason for this is we wanted to add even more value in the 2005 version and we thought giving customers an extra GB of memory was a great way to do that. Hopefully, you think so as well.
About to get on my plane back to Seattle so I'll blog more about the feature split tomorrow but read over the release and let me know if you have any questions.
Tom