At the SQLbits conference in the UK, Victoria Holt sat in on a session about the State of the SQL Nation. She writes:
“SQL Server vNext will be launched this year with the UK launch 31 May 2017.”
Keep in mind that “launch” is a marketing term, very different from “release.” (Even “release” is tricky because the code can be released to manufacturing without being available to download publicly.)
Victoria’s post also lays out what’s new in vNext. I don’t think it’s a list that’ll get most conventional DBAs excited, but Linux & Docker support had to have been challenging enough for Microsoft already. (Example: last month’s CTP 1.4 release fixed GETDATE() and introduced VDI support for backup software.)
A May marketing launch would tie in nicely with PASS’s delayed call for Summit speakers, too. It gives the community the best chance to build sessions that will be highly relevant when October rolls around. (Granted, this also means speakers will be building session content for things they haven’t actually done in real-life customer implementations, but that’s how it always is with brand new technology – folks have to kick it around in the lab and then guess how it’ll work in real life. It is what it is.)
Update April 19 – Microsoft’s marketing material is now officially referring to it as SQL Server 2017:

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I saw that date on a slide at a different session at SQLBits, from another Microsoft speaker: it wasn’t mentioned in the talk, but it was good to see. Thanks for the post Victoria, and for the tireless volunteering at ‘bits!
Not on the list, but vNext is supposed to include STRING_AGG ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/string-agg-transact-sql ). That’s a little exciting.
I’m very excited to see the On-Premise version of Power BI integrated with SSRS. I haven’t been able to get the preview edition to work at all. I’m also curious to see what the new machine learning tools and paths are to integrate artificial intelligence into SQL Server.
Hi Brad, I had the same issue with Power BI… you can download the CTP 2.1 (Install a new instance of SQL 2017) and it should work fine. Just a note though, Power BI server won’t be available for enterprise edition unless it is combined with SA…..
Any updated date for release of SQL Server 2017? thanks
Any updated date for release of SQL Server 2017????? thanks
No.
How about now?
Do you know if we could be able to build an Always On System with one node with CTP and the other one node with RTM?
Thank you very very much.
Javier – for Q&A, head on over to http://dba.stackexchange.com.