Technical News: SQL Server 2005 SP1 March 2006 CTP Now Available

There have been entire months I didn't blog as much as I've blogged today, but there's one more piece of news I've been remiss in sharing.

The first Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1 is available for download here as an upgrade to existing RTM installations (the updated Books OnLine may be downloaded here). The biggest change in this release is that Database Mirroring is now supported, although there are of course other changes as well. According to Euan Garden of the SQL Server team, this is the only CTP currently planned for SP1, so we'd all best get cracking now, hadn't we?

Just as an aside, precisely how cool is the Community Technology Preview program? Clicking a link in a blog has got to be the lowest barrier-to-entry in the industry to what we old-timers call the "beta testing" program. It's incredibly cool for me to work for a company that lets me blog honestly about its products, and lets you kick the tires on our latest-and-greatest technology without jumping through any bureaucratic hoops to get at it. 

Now get cracking.. and I promise, no more posts until tomorrow at the earliest.. :-)

     -wp