When trying to download SQL Server to learn database development on Windows, the user is confronted with many editions and codenames with no explanation. Wikipedia and casual googling were not very helpful, so if there is a resource that I have missed, preferably a Microsoft resource, then I would very much appreciate a link.
Some of the listed technologies include Denali, RC0, R2, Express Edition, Standard Edition, Azure, Management Studio, Evaluation Edition. Where are all these terms defined?
SQL Server has several versions: 7.0, 2000 (8.0), 2005 (9.0), 2008 (10.0), 2008 R2 (10.5) and the next one up – 2012 (11.0 – this is not available yet, and was code-named “Denali”).
Besides that, each version of SQL Server comes in various editions – Express is the free version (free to use), Standard is the first paid version with limited feature set, Enterprise is the full package with all the features.
SQL Azure is Microsoft’s offering of “SQL Server in the cloud”, e.g. it’s not a product that you download, install and use – it’s a service that you sign up for and use. You don’t need to install anything locally.
Management Studio is the tool used by all the SQL Server version from 2005 on up to look at the database, execute queries etc.