New SQL Express CTPs just Released!

Community Technology Previews (CTPs) of new versions of SQL Server 2005 Express are now available from here.

This CTP is the first release of SQL Express that will include Advanced Services - Reporting Services and Full Text Search.  Also included is SQL Server Management Studio Express for managing your databases.

Included in this release are:

SQL Server Express Edition with SP1
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is a powerful and reliable data management product that delivers rich features, data protection, and performance for embedded application clients, light Web applications, and local data stores. Designed for easy deployment and rapid prototyping, SQL Server Express is available at no cost, and you are free to redistribute it with applications. If you need more advanced database features, then SQL Server Express can be seamlessly upgraded to more sophisticated versions of SQL Server.

SQL Server Express Edition with Advanced Services
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services is a new, free version of SQL Server Express that includes additional features for reporting and advanced text based searches. In addition to the features offered in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, SQL Server Express with Advanced Services offers additional components that include SQL Server Management Studio Express (SSMSE), support for full-text catalogs, and support for viewing reports via report server. SQL Server Express Edition with Advanced Services also includes SP1.

SQL Server Express Edition Toolkit
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Toolkit (SQL Server Express Toolkit) provides tools and resources to manage SQL Server Express and SQL Server Express Edition with Advanced Services. It also allows creating reports by using SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SSRS).

SQL Server Management Studio Express
SQL Server Management Studio Express (SSMSE) provides a graphical management tool for managing SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services instances. SSMSE can also manage relational engine instances created by any edition of SQL Server 2005. SSMSE cannot manage Analysis Services, Integration Services, SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition, Notification Services, Reporting Services, or SQL Server Agent.