SQL Server 2005 SP2 Hotfix and Visual Studio

If you’ve already deployed SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2), take note. Microsoft announced that a problem with SP2 “may impact customers using cleanup tasks in Maintenance Plans and SQL Server Integration Services packages.” A hotfix is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=85124 for anyone who downloaded SP2 before March 5, 2007.

Microsoft is making a new version of SP2 available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=85124. If you haven’t downloaded SP2 yet, be sure to download the refreshed version, which includes all the fixes for the identified problem.

And just for the record, you’ve probably noticed that I’m calling this a “problem,” not an “issue,” as Microsoft’s announcement calls it. A pet peeve of mine is calling things “issues” when they’re really problems. “Issue” sounds much nicer than “problem,” doesn’t it?

I’ve been reading a fascinating book, Words That Work, by Frank Luntz. It’s all about how we’re all influenced—actually, manipulated—by the choice of words and euphemisms like “issue” for “problem.” As an editor, I’m finding lots of ways that I can do a better job, but as a consumer, I’m a little wary. Have you read this book or seen Luntz on TV or heard him on the radio? What do you think?

OK. That’s the end of my mini-rant. Please excuse the interruption. J

Visual Studio and Vista

Developers working on Windows Vista applications can now take advantage of the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista. This update is targeted at improving the developer’s users experience. Last December, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2005 SP1, which was a precursor to this update.

Corporate Vice President “Soma” Somasegar, who’s in change of Microsoft’s Developer Division, said, “We fixed a number of significant issues around debugging and profiling, and around creating ASP.NET applications for IIS on the developer machine. We also wanted to improve the feedback that Visual Studio gives to developers when an error occurs on Windows Vista.”

You can download the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=90e2942d-3ad1-4873-a2ee-4acc0aace5b6&displaylang=en.