Friends again: Vista and SQL

With the announcement of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2), you can now be safe in the knowledge that your database system will not only run efficiently, but will be supported on Vista, and you can now take advantage of enhancements in the familiar and easy-to-use Windows Vista™ operating system and 2007 Microsoft Office system to easily connect and integrate with the power, security and reliability of SQL Server 2005. In addition, Microsoft announced that it is expanding virtualisation use rights to allow unlimited virtual instances on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.

Key enhancements to SQL Server SP2, taken from this Press Release, include the following

• Data Mining Add-ins for the 2007 Microsoft Office System - enabling data mining functionality from SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) to be used directly within Excel 2007 and Visio 2007.
• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) compatibility with Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 - providing integration with the Report Center in SharePoint, enabling the seamless consumption and management of SSRS reports within SharePoint.
• SQL Server Analysis Services improvements for Excel 2007 and Excel Services - relating to performance and functionality.
• Data compression (varDecimal) - important feature for data warehousing scenarios, requiring less disk storage of decimal data and increasing overall performance.
• Manageability enhancements - based on customer feedback, provide management capabilities for database administrators such as improvements in database maintenance plans, enhanced management reports and a new copy database wizard.
• Management reports added to SQL Server Express Edition - enabling customers to get insights into the performance of their Express Edition and SQL Server Compact Edition databases.
• Interoperability improvements including Oracle support in the Report Builder - enables customers to use its functionality on top of Oracle data sources. Customers also have access to SQL Server Reporting Services to build reports on top of Hyperion’s Essbase cubes.

You can download SQL Server 2005 SP2 here.