>Nope, but I don't know if you saw that discussion. I asked the exact question you did to SQL Server MVP.
>
>Naomi, my reply to Sergey was a bit of the socratic method, I know the answer - I was curious why Sergey would make such a remark.
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>Last summer at this time, MS struck a deal with DataAllegro, for the purposes of scaling out data warehouses into the double-digit terabytes - this is the first of a set of MAJOR releases for Microsoft to further penetrate the BI space.
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>Microsoft's next release of SQL Server was going to be SQL 2010, but they announced a few months ago that they'd fast-track some of the BI features. Some believe it's part of competing with the Oracle/Sun deal, and some believe it's a response to industry analysts who say that MS needs to release new functions more quickly.
>
>R2 has a new version of the Report Builder, new features for geospatial charting (this is becoming a hot feature), new add-ins for Excel and SharePoint (including one for SharePoint 2010), new engine features to deal with more processors, Master Data Services, and a number of new features in Management Studio to report on server resource usage.
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>There's even more, but the bottom line is that this is NOT an interim release.
>I don't know if there will be new T-SQL features or not, but one thing I read is that there will be new database integration capabilities in Visual Studio
>
>By the way, the URL you mentioned also referred to the DataAllego stuff. A little of this will be seen in the Gemini (Excel) add-in, but the larger aspect is part of Project Madison, which (I believe) will come along shortly after R2.
>
>So from the periphery, they're taking a planned and staged approach to all this. They've been penetrating the BI market since the early part of this decade - they first got their name on the list as a major BI player and now they're looking at becoming THE player.
>
>So Sergey, would you like to re-think your comment? <s>

I didn't see Sergey call it an interim release. He said based on the R2 name it didn't seem like Microsoft considers it a revolutionary advance. FWIW that was my reaction as well. You are very tuned in to the BI stuff, understandably so, but is this release really going to be a big deal to most SQL Server developers and administrators?