Microsoft Waffles On Yukon Time Frame
Microsoft Senior Vice President Paul Flessner said Monday morning the company will get a beta of its next-generation database out this summer, indicating what could be a slip from the June time frame other Microsoft executives had promised just weeks ago.
But another Microsoft executive offered a different version of the story. Stan Sorensen, director of SQL Server Product management, later on Monday reiterated the company's previously stated commitment to get a beta, albeit a "private" one, out to some 1,000 users this month.
"This will be a controlled distribution," he noted. A bigger, general beta is now slated for early next year, he said. The long-awaited Yukon, with its promised support of the Common Runtime Language engine, is now expected to ship in the second half of 2004.
Microsoft had hoped to get a beta out in time for its big TechEd 2003 show this week but could not deliver, several sources said this spring. (See story.)
Other SQL Server milestones included Monday's distribution at TechEd of Beta 1 of reporting services for SQL Server 2000. The final product, an add-on to the current database, is due late this year. (See story.)
In other database news, Microsoft will drop the price of SQL Server Developer's Edition from $499 to $49 on Aug. 1. Sorensen said the decision was not a direct response to perceived momentum by low-cost MySQL, an open-source database, but said "we'd be fools to make price an impediment to [developer] adoption."