SQL Express 2005 Beta 1, a release failure ?

I just wonder if SQL Express 2005 Beta 1 is not finally a big mistake, kind of failure in the Microsoft marketing world.

I read more and more blogs about the difficulty everybody experience with this tool.

After all, it's the MSDE replacement, but the lack of well formed documentation added to the lack of proper UI give a bad start to something surely promising.

Most of the posts I can see are complaining about basic facts (in my opinion they are right for that), and this should not be the case.

We should talk about CLR in SQL, interaction with .Net, etc...

I think the big mistake was to release SQL 2005 Express Beta before the real one, without an UI. I can't believe that internal development of something of this magnitude was not made without a UI.

At least Enterprise Manager would let me see visually all the different services, the tables the stored procedures, etc...

I still don't get the difference (if it does exists) between SQL Express and SQL 2005.

So can Microsoft change a bit their road map and output quickly a better Beta ?

 

4 Comments

  • Paolo the issue there is that Microsoft should have released the full SQL 2005 Beta first, or at least the 2 products like they did for VS 2005(MSDN subscribers) and VS Express.



    I am a MSDN subscriber and I would be delighted to test the new product. Currently you can't quantify the exact features list in SQL Express 2005 Beta, because of the lack of UI like the always excellent Enterprise Manager. Sadly I think the main reason is that Microsoft SQL team is late on the delivery.

  • Its beta. I think what they released is fine for a beta. I don't think it is a big deal to expect some at this stage to know a tsql. I would rather get it now and then have XM show up later than to wait on everything.



    Wally

  • A nice UI would have certainly been a blessing as well as a bit more interoperability with EM, but it really hasn't kept me from playing with Express.



    The express tools allow you to do a lot of visual manipulation of the databases and the command tools, which I have never played with before, fill in the functionality gaps.



    I'd say the glass is half full :)

  • And when you use VS.NET C# express, the dialogs for sqlexpress are so tiny and not resizable!! They are so small that they never cover the content they contain so yuo have to click and scroll like a madman... Really bad GUI decisions, really bad.

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