History of SQL Server

History of SQL Server

From 1980's the steps for SQL Server was started. Back then, Micorsoft was working with Sybase to prepare a database.

After that Microsoft wanted to prepare a own database.

By 1993, along with the operating system Windows NT 3.1, an integrated version of SQL Server version 4.2 was released by Microsoft collaborated with Sybase.

By 1995, Microsoft prepared own database named SQL Server 6.0 and in 1996 released SQL Server 6.5.

In 1997, Microsoft  released SQL Server 7.0 and it is considered as first generation of SQL Server.

In 1999, Microsoft released SQL Server 2000( SQL Server 8.0). It has the features like multi instances, Scalability,high availability, log shipping, reporting services and more.

SQL Server 2000 version information

Release	Product version
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4	8.00.2039
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3	8.00.760
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3	8.00.760
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 2	8.00.534
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1	8.00.384
SQL Server 2000 RTM	8.00.194

In 2005, SQL Server 2005( SQL Server 9.0) was released. Along with this version CLR (Common language runtime) was introduced. SQL Server 2005 introduced "MARS" (Multiple Active Results Sets), a method of allowing usage of database connections for multiple purposes.SQL Server 2005 introduced DMVs (Dynamic Management Views), which are specialized views and functions that return server state information that can be used to monitor the health of a server instance, diagnose problems, and tune performance.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) of SQL Server 2005 introduced Database Mirroring( a high availability option that provides redundancy and failover capabilities at the database level. Failover can be performed manually or can be configured for automatic failover. Automatic failover requires a witness partner and an operating mode of synchronous (also known as high-safety or full safety).).

The following table lists the major releases of SQL Server 2005.

Release	Product version
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 4	9.00.5000.00
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3	9.00.4035
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2	9.00.3042
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1	9.00.2047
SQL Server 2005 RTM	9.00.1399

In 2008, SQL Server 2008 was released.

SQL Server 2008 version information

The following table lists the major releases of SQL Server 2008.

Release	Product version
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3	10.00.5500.00
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2	10.00.4000.00
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1	10.00.2531.00
SQL Server 2008 RTM	10.00.1600.22

In 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 was released. 

SQL Server 2008 R2 version information

The following table lists the major releases of SQL Server 2008 R2.

Release	Product version
SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 2	10.50.4000.0
SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1	10.50.2500.0
SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM	10.50.1600.1

In 2012, In SQL Server 2012 was released.

SQL Server 2012 version information

The following table lists the major releases of SQL Server 2012.

Release	Product Version
SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1	11.00.3000.00
SQL Server 2012 RTM	11.00.2100.60

I will let you know the updates per each version in further topics.

Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SQL_Server

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321185