.NET and SQL Server divisions at Microsoft have been busy lately. While .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 (including Express Editions) were released several months ago, Service Pack 1 (SP1) for both have been released recently. The Express Edition tools, in particular, have been re-released with SP1 built in, and are available for download.

I had been using the 2005 EEs on both my computers since they had been available. But I removed those and used the new 2008 versions. You can download the individual tools to match your needs, but there is also a DVD-sized download which contains them all, as well as .NET 3.5 SP1. This is what I did – it’s a big download, but I let it run overnight and installed the night day. Also, I can backup the downloaded ISO for easy installation on multiple computers, and reinstallations if necessary.

SQL Server 2008 was also recently released. It has been built in a way that it requires the SP1 update for .NET be already installed on the target machine. Not a problem for me, as that was already done thanks to the DVD download mentioned above. Following the fashion of the 2005 EEs, a SQL Server EE 2008 was made available. This is also included in the DVD download, which is really convenient for a one-stop installation process.

As a downside though, the DVD release doesn’t include the management tools for SQL Server 2008. Those have to be obtained by installing a different download for SQL 2008 EE. There are some choices available, depending on whether you want just the SQL Server EE core, the core with some tools, or the core with all tools.

There are some optional downloads to go with SQL Server 2008, including Books Online (detailed documentation for the software) and the Feature Pack (extra tools to get more use out of Sql Server).

Evidently, there’s a lot of reading ahead of me to get up to date on all the new tools and features. But for more hours in the day…

I do like the way Microsoft have been releasing these Express Editions for free – it allows people to use the power of the tools for hobby, learning, and evaluation needs. I hope they keep it up in the future!