I've been pushing for Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2005 for awhile now, but perhaps not for the reasons that you think. My servers are stable and I have no pressing issues. I have no clients that need things fixed. I'm not even sure that the majority of SQL Server 2005 instances are unstable in some way that would require another service pack.

I'm pushing because I think it's important that we can count on regular support from Microsoft on the products we use. You never know when you'll add a new feature or change something that does fix a bug, or you'll get to a scale point where you need something fixed. So I think that it's good to keep up with patches and service packs AND it's equally important that the developers at Microsoft learn from their mistakes, keep in touch with the code by working with it, and they correct issues that they've introduced. Also I think it's a great marketing opportunity to publish a schedule, like they do for the lifecycle, and show they stand behind their products. (PS : Vote for Service Pack 3!!)

However as I've been working on this issue, I think there's an interesting debate over how support should be handled. I've seen basically 3 ways this is handled, well perhaps 4 though I'm not sure #4 will last long.

1. Charge for the purchase (new or upgrade), no support charges
2. Charge for the purchase (new or upgrade), add xx% (usually 10-25%) of the purchase for support. This might be a per year or onetime charge.
3. Charge for the purchase (new or upgrade), charge per incident for support.
4. Don't provide support.

Now Microsoft falls into the third area and most smaller software vendors fall into the second area. I'm sure there are some vendors in the first one as well, but I haven't really worked with any.

I think that Microsoft is in a slightly different position than most software companies in that they are a fundamental piece of the software stack on a computer. They are the foundation and upgrading SQL Server or Windows is no small chore. If my employer, Red Gate, runs into a support issue from 3 versions ago, they can easily, and perhaps very cheaply, upgrade a customer. Microsoft could offer the upgrade, but not sure how many people want to have support telling them to upgrade SQL Server, free or not, to solve an issue!

So I'm somewhat wondering what the best way to handle support is? In my experience, which is probably a few calls a year over the last 16 years (quite a few some years), the Microsoft support is outstanding. I've mainly worked SQL Server issues, but also Exchange, Windows, and IIS problems, but I've always received good technical help, lots of hours at times, including literally being on the phone for 14 hours overnight, and follow up to check on workaround or solutions, or calls on open issues to let me know that someone was still working on the issue.

And that's for US$249!

That's a bargain and if you think about the cost of Technet for $349, which includes 2 support incidents, why wouldn't you choose that?!? I'm not stumping for MS here, I think it makes business sense to just purchase the subscription for that reason alone. At the very least, call about some annoying issue at the end of your year.

However with this structure, it seems that we're not necessarily going to get the best support. Maybe Microsoft is losing money at this price and so we get less work building patches? Personally I'd rather see a nominal, maybe 5% of the cost a year for support that guarantees two service packs, well tested, every year. I think I'd like that better than a larger support cost per incident.

I'd even be ok with charging a fee, maybe the $249, for each Service Pack to be licensed. They could even make this a marketing campaign that ups the version of SQL Server with each Service Pack. (PS : Vote for Service Pack 3!!)

Of course, I'd expect the initial purchase price to be slightly lower as well, to compensate for support not being included.

Steve Jones

PS: Vote for Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2005. Right now there are no plans to release it. We need your vote so Microsoft will build it.

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