So, some breaking news from TechEd today is that a CTP for SQL Server 2008 R2 will be available in the second half of this year. I'll post more on what that's all about later this week, but other release news includes a Technology Preview of Office 2010 to be released by invitation only in July and Windows 7 to have a RTM in time for general availability during the holiday season.
UPDATE: A few more elements about R2....
Apparently Kilamonjaro - which I had always been told would be SQL 11 (and probably for a 2011 release) is now R2. Most of the features announced thus far are BI releated, though there is at least one piece oriented around eventing driven by low level data (I'm guessing the concept is ensuring eventing based on the lowest level - the data storage - rather than relying on whatever component is updating the data to know to check business rules and probably raise events).
Again, key things to watch for include:
Word is the R2 RTM will be somewhere in the first half of 2010.
