Microsoft SQL Server 2008 CTP Released

Microsoft on Monday released the first Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2008, the official name for what was initially codenamed "Katmai."

Katmai is set to ship in 2008 and the company is making it a central plank of its push into the business intelligence space.

improvements slated for SQL Server 2008 include added support for various data types, including spatial and unstructured data.

Microsoft also announced it had acquired technology from Dundas Data Visualization Inc., for the creation of charting in SQL Server Reporting Services.

Building a number of developer-specific capabilities into the next-gen server release: The ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF) and the Language Integrated Query (LINQ).
Developers can use the Entity Framework to program against data defined in a conceptual way, instead of having to work with information organized in tables and columns. "With the Entity Framework, we’re essentially programming at the conceptual level rather than at a logical level or a physical level.......