Per the ANSI-92 standard:

1. COUNT(*) returns the cardinality of a table.

2. COUNT(column) applies the value expression to all rows of the table, then eliminates all rows where column is NULL.

SQL...

As pointed out previously, COUNT(column1) eliminates NULLs from the final result set, per the ANSI SQL-92 standard.  COUNT(*) does not.  Try this instead:

Select Count(*), PremiumGroup From RetireePremiums

Group by PremiumGroup

Order by...

When 'ON', both tests return 'False'. When 'OFF', both tests return 'True'.

This is the case for both SQL 7 and 2000. Try it for yourselves!

With ANSI_SQL ON, both return Unknown,...

"Select Count(Field1) Where Field1 Is Null" DOES return the number of records that have a Null value for that field, regardless ofthe ANSI Nulls setting.

No, it does not.  SELECT COUNT(column1)...

"Select Count(Field1) Where Field1 Is Null" should return the number of records that have a Null value for that field, regardless ofthe ANSI Nulls setting.

The problem is with the ANSI...

SQL uses Three-Valued Logic; it is not tied to the Two-Valued Logic you have forced on it in this article.  Your comparison of @val = NULL does not...

The article is *wrong* on a few major points.  I will submit a full article detailing the problems and supplying the correct information this weekend.