SQL Reporting Services Extended To ALL Version of SQL 2005

Questions and Answers from Tech Ed!

Q. What updates is Microsoft making to the SQL Server 2005 product line?

A. Microsoft has decided to extend SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services from Standard and Enterprise Editions to all versions of SQL Server 2005 including Express and Workgroup Editions. Additionally, SQL Server 2005 Report Builder will be available with Workgroup, Standard and Enterprise Editions.

Q. Previously, Reporting Services was only going to be offered in Standard and Enterprise Editions and Report Builder was only available with Enterprise Edition. Why did you change this?

A. The decision was based on customer and partner demand. ISVs are looking for ways to add value to their applications; reporting is a primary scenario for doing just that.  With the previous plan of record, ISVs couldn’t as easily take advantage of the reporting functionality that is offered as part of SQL Server.  This change really supports ISVs that are looking fro ways to add reporting.  Similarly, customers have been asking for reporting as just about every customer can benefit from reports off of the data stored in all SQL Server editions.  This change provides them new functionality that they won’t find in other database offerings.

Q. What value do the Standard and Enterprise Editions offer now that Reporting Services/Report Builder are available with all editions?

A. The Standard and Enterprise Editions of SQL Server 2005 will provide incrementally more advanced features. All editions of Reporting Services allow for reporting off of relational data. In the Express and Workgroup versions of Reporting Services this is limited to a local relational datasource of the same edition only (e.g. Express version of Reporting Services can report on an Express database).  In the Standard and Enterprise versions we also add support for OLAP data sources and non-SQL Server relational data sources.  There are also a lot of enhancements for high scale environments that are only found in Standard and Above (with some of these only found in Enterprise) Additionally, Reporting Services provides and extensible architecture allowing report developers the ability to enhance reporting functionality in the areas of custom data sources, additional rendering formats, etc.  This type of extensibility is only offered in Standard and Enterprise.