Today I’m pleased to announce the availability of the SQL Server 2008 R2 Update For Developers January 2011 Update. This is a great resource for developers, trainers, consultants and evangelists who need to understand the key improvements introduced in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 from a developer perspective. It contains a rich set of presentations, demos, hands-on labs and videos that are perfect for self-paced learning or for conducting your own training. The January 2011 update includes lots of great new content and several usability improvements.

The easiest way to get started with the training kit is to download it, install it, open default.htm and browse the kit for the content that you are most interested in. Many of the presentations and demos in the training kit include a video that you can watch to familiarize yourself with the content. When you are ready for some hands-on experience, try installing one of the demos or hands-on labs. Each of them includes a configuration wizard that simplifies installation. Check out the following sections for more on what’s new in this update.

Ø New Content: Build Your First Microsoft BI Solution with SQL Server 2008 R2

Ø Other Content in the Training Kit

Ø Usability Improvements

Ø Virtual Machine Information

Ø What’s Next

You can download the training kit now at the following URL:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9710868

This training kit is brought to you by DPE’s Data Platform Evangelism team. Please feel free to email us at [email protected] with your feedback and questions. We are particularly interested in hearing about use of this content to drive SQL Server developer adoption.

Regards,

Roger

Roger Doherty | Sr. Technical Evangelist | Microsoft Corp.