SQL Server 2008 Whitepapers

There are some good katmai whitepapers appearing on microsoft.com.
The list is available here http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2008/learning/whitepapers.mspx.

Performance and Scale http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_perfandscale.mspx

Manageability http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_manageability.mspx

Delivering location intelligence with spatial data http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/spatialdata.mspx

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_ssrs.mspx

What's new for XML in SQL Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_xml.mspx

Managing unstructured data http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_unstructured.mspx

Server consolidation http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/hosting_sql_srv_consol.mspx

Data warehousing
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql-for-datawarehousing_2008.mspx

Data Programmability http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_dp.mspx

SQL Server 2008 Will Have 7 New Datatypes

SQL Server 2008 New Datatypes

DATE - ANSI-compliant date data type
TIME - ANSI-compliant time data type with variable precision
DATETIMEOFFSET - timezone aware/preserved datetime
DATETIME2 - like DATETIME, but with variable precision and large date range

GEOMETRY - "flat earth" spatial data type
GEOGRAPHY - "round earth" spatial data type
HIERARCHYID - represents hierarchies using path enumeration model

The first four datatypes are regular SQL datatypes but the last three datatypes are exposed as .NET system UDTs.

Note: none of these are in the current June CTP

SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) Web Casts

SQL Server 2008 Livemeeting Schedule
Analysis Services - Dimension Design
06/12/07
11:00 am PDT

Change Data Capture
06/13/07
11:00 am PDT

Star Join Query Optimizations
06/19/07
11:00 am PDT

Table Valued Parameters
06/22/07
11:00 am PDT

Declarative Management Framework
06/26/07
11:00 am PDT

MERGESQL Statement
06/29/07
11:00 am PDT