Differences Between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 from a developer's POV

Question

I am setting up my development machine and I am wondering if I should install SQL Server 2008 R2 (for Developers) or SQL Server 2008 (for Developers) on my machine.

All of the databases that I work with are on SQL Server 2008 (not the R2). So I am torn. Should install what I am currently using? or should I be a bit forward looking and use the R2 version?

Will the client tools from the R2 install connect ok to the non R2 servers?

I guess in general what I want to know is what are the differences between R2 and non-R2 from a developer's point of view? (I don't really care about back end stuff too much.)

Answer 1

For a non-Business Intelligence developer (just plain old OLTP stuff), there's really hardly any difference and any additional features in R2, unfortunately :-(

The only thing that might become interesting at some point is the Master Data Service stuff - can't totally wrap my head around it just yet, so for now : R2 is not a big release for database devs in my opinion. Works great and all - but all the new shinyness is in the BI space.

Answer 2

As far as I'm concerned, in R2 more features previously available only in Enterprise edition are now available in Standard edition. Otherwise, no big difference.

Answer 3

Well.. in my case I have instaled on my computer SQL server 2008 but I wasn´t able to run SQL server management Studio so I decided to move on SQL server 2008 r2 and it works for me, I was able to start successfully SQL server configuration Studio and to connect to Vs2107 that was my primary goal.