Are you ready for SQL Server 2008 SP2?

The Service Pack 2 is ready for downloading from this site here:
To download the SQL Server 2008 SP2 release please select from the links below:
 •SQL Server 2008 SP2: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196550
 •SQL Server 2008 SP2 Express: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196551
 •SQL Server 2008 SP2 Feature Packs: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=202815
Note


 This is a service pack for the 2008 server and not the 2008 R2.

I have only Express editions and this executable (SQLServer2008SP2-KB2285068-x86-ENU.exe, 284MB ) from the above link applied the service pack to the two SQL Express servers on my notebook computer (Aspire 4810TZ-4011) with Windows 7 Ultimate.

I ran Select @@version on each of them and got these responses:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP2) - 10.0.4000.0 (Intel X86)   Sep 16 2010 20:09:22   Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation  Express Edition with Advanced Services on Windows NT 6.1 <X86> (Build 7600: )
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP2) - 10.0.4000.0 (Intel X86)   Sep 16 2010 20:09:22   Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation  Express Edition on Windows NT 6.1 <X86> (Build 7600: )[I call this the Vanilla]
The first of these has Reporting Services server.

So what does this service pack accomplish?
* Reporting Services in Sharepoint Integrated Mode. It also helped SQL Server 2008 R2 to integrate with Sharepoint 2007 Products.
* SQL Server 2008 R2 Application and Multiserver Management Compatibility with SQL Server 2008
    *SQL Server 2008 Instance Management. You can enroll SQL Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Utility Control Point as a managed instance.
    *Data-Tier Application(DAC) support. With the SP2 applied I can do all the DAC Operations just like in SQL Server 2008 R2. However I am using the      SSMS tool that was installed with SQL Server 2008 R2.
     Here is an example of the DACs that you can do with SQLExpress (vanilla).

You want to jump start on DAC, the coolest feature of SQL Server, then make sure you read these articles:
http://hodentekmsss.blogspot.com/2010/07/sql-server-2008-r2-and-data-tier.html
or
here
http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2010/02/working-with-data-gotten-lot-easier.html

Have some fun!