It's official, SQL Server 2008 has now launched and can be downloaded on MSDN, Technet. For more information, you can see the press release here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-06SQLServer2008PR.mspx.

In Microsoft tradition with each new release, they have added a new edition: Web Edition. Web edition offers a lower price-point edition of SQL Server for web hosting providers or companies that just want a small SQL Server footprint with moderate scaling.

So why upgrade? Well, it depends on your situation. Here are some really compelling cases that are on the top of my list:

• Are you synchronizing systems two SQL Servers?
• The Change Data Capture feature will allow you to read the source table and only determine the rows that have changed. (Enterprise Edition)
• Do you have a data warehouse or a database that's a few hundred gigs in size?
• The compression feature will compress with about a 3:1 ratio, speeding up read IO (Enterprise Edition)
• The new star join improvements will speed up query time
• Do you have more than 10 instances?
• Your environment may becoming too uncontrollable and the Policy Framework will allow you to determine which servers are not complying with your policies
• Monitor server usage and across your enterprise to determine capacity
• Do you reporting against your SQL Server?
• You can stop a runaway query by using the Resource Governor to put caps on the query. (Enterprise Edition)
• In Reporting Services, IIS is now gone!
• A much, much better report builder can be downloaded and used in 2008

For a full feature list by edition, go to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645993(SQL.100).aspx.