SQL Server 2008 R2, which ships this month, allows end users to tap into the powerful business intelligence features of SQL Server via tight integration with popular Microsoft applications like Excel.

If you’re like many small business owners, the news that Microsoft is weeks away from the release of a new version of SQL Server 2008 could seem utterly irrelevant to your interests. But it isn’t.

Yesterday, Microsoft clarified that the so-called new SQL Server is not code-named Kilimanjaro. The Kilimanjaro project does exist, however, and while it does refer to a bigger mountain than Katmai ...