Microsoft News
Special Offer for PASS Members: $200 off BI Conference 2010 Registration
Only for PASS members, we have negotiated a $200 discount off the standard registration price if you sign up for BI Conference 2010 by April 30th. Pay only $1,295 using the code BIATCST33H during online registration. By May 1st this code will expire and pricing will go back to $1495 so register soon!
Test Yourself with the SQL Server Sequence
Think you know a thing or two about SQL Server? Put your knowledge where it counts and see how you fare at the SQL Server Sequence.
In anticipation of SQL Server 2008 R2 launch, Microsoft is holding a contest to test users knowledge of SQL Server and give away some great prizes in the process. For the next 12 weeks, they will issue a new question each week on one of their three social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Learn more about the SQL Server Sequence here.
Download SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Kit!
The first release of the SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Kit is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. SQL Server 2008 R2 offers an array of developer capabilities that build upon key innovations introduced in SQL Server 2008. The SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Kit is ideal for developers who want to understand how to take advantage of the key improvements introduced in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 in their applications, as well as for developers who are new to SQL Server. The training kit is brought to you by Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism. Download your copy today!
Take the Excelerator Quiz
Join in the fun and take part in the "Excelerator Quiz" - a contest for PowerPivot, the new add-on for Excel 2010. Take the quiz to find out how much of an Excel expert you really are.
For more advanced Excel users, there's the "Alpha Geek Challenge." Donald Farmer of PowerPivot will be issuing three challenges over the next few weeks. You must use PowerPivot to solve each challenge and you will submit your entries via a screenshot of your final result. Individual winners of each challenge (based on votes received on the site) will each get a $250 shopping spree to the Microsoft online store. And one Grand Prize winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to a BI conference in New Orleans this June! Click here for more details.
The Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) – a toolkit that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating to SQL Server – has a new addition for MySQL. SSMA 2008 for MySQL 1.0 CTP 1.0 (and SSMA 2005 for MySQL 1.0 CTP 1.0) assesses migration efforts and automates schema and data migration from MySQL to SQL Server. Freely download and preview this tool today! Learn more at the Microsoft Data Platform Insider blog.
The November Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2008 R2 is "feature complete" and available for download. Explore all the new functionality, including:
- Support for Windows Server 2008 R2, including Hyper-V with Live Migration
- PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel and Microsoft SharePoint Server
- Report Builder 3.0 with Report Part Gallery and new visualizations (sparklines, databars)
- Master Data Services (MDS)
- Enhanced data compression with support for Unicode UCS-2
Microsoft Named a Leader in Database Management Systems Market
Forrester Research has named Microsoft a leader in "The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Database Management Systems, Q2 2009". Forrester writes that Microsoft is “the most aggressive DBMS vendor with a strong road map.” In this Wave, Forrester categorizes leaders as offering a “broad set of functionality to support any critical transactional application.” Learn more on the Microsoft SQL Server News Blog or access the full report.
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