In late August and early September, I started hearing rumors that the announced November launch of SQL Server 2005 might be delayed yet again. I couldn't imagine that, with a 5-year gap since the last release, Microsoft could afford another delay, but something had to be behind the rumors. Then, during a keynote at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in mid-September, I received an emailed update on SQL Server. In that update, Paul Flessner, senior vice president of server applications ...