Microsoft have just released SQL Server 2012, earlier today. It is now generally available for purchase, and you can download its various trial editions, and add-ons, such as the new, yet still free, PowerPivot for Excel, from this page.

Now is a great time to learn what is new about it from the perspective of Business Intelligence, as that is a key strength of this new product. We are offering an in-depth, online, video-based SQL Server 2012 BI Course for an attractively low price: for less than a usual cost of a taxi ride you can learn all that is new in SQL BI at your own pace. You can easily switch between the topics, thanks to highly responsive Jump to a chapter links—try them, it usually takes one second only to jump back and forward. There are four modules, nearly 5 hours of hi-def content with more than 50 demos. Start with the first module, which introduces SQL Server 2012 BI and Big Data.

Also, free of charge, you can access:

• a brand new article about Big Data, Microsoft, and Hadoop, 
• an introductory article to SQL BI, and,
• a short video, showing Power View and BI Semantic Model in action.

There is a nice entry describing today’s happy event on the SQL Server Product Team Blog, click here to read it.

Good luck with SQL Server and Business Intelligence, from us all at Project Botticelli.