But Kummert promised that developers will eventually be able to write applications once and port them between SSDS and the other versions of SQL Server with minimal changes. "Our intent is to provide a consistent application model," he said, adding that Microsoft will provide "more clarity" on how it will do so over "the next year or so."

Pricing for SQL Server won't increase with the new release, Kummert said, despite such increases "seeming to be in vogue in the market today." That was a not-so-veiled reference to recent price hikes by Oracle.

SQL Server 2005, the predecessor to the 2008 version, took Microsoft five years to bake. But Kummert said that a revamping of the SQL Server development process to make it more agile and responsive to customer feedback helped Microsoft cut the programming time on SQL Server 2008 while still including as many new features as were built into SQL Server 2005.

Key new features include the ability to easily load data from Oracle, Teradata and SAP NetWeaver; increased integration with Office 2007 in the Reporting Services module; transparent data encryption that requires no changes to existing applications; improved data compression; the added ability to enforce existing group policies; and a "resource governor" that Microsoft said lets database administrators easily adjust the amount of processor and memory resources used by concurrent workloads.

In addition, SQL Server 2008 will support Microsoft's new Hyper-V server virtualization software within 30 days, Ibarra said.