Ladies and Gentlemen: The third Service Pack for SQL Server 2000 is in Beta, live on www.betaplace.com and ready to be downloaded! Downloading the Bits You can download the bits from http://www.betaplace.com. The BetaPlace web site requires that you log in, using the Beta ID and Password provided to you at the top of this email. Once you log in, you’ll be required to complete a short survey before you will be granted access to download the bits. Before You Install SP3!! Make sure you read through the Beta Testing Cookbook and the readme! There are several significant installation notes you’ll need to be aware of! This document was updated last week.

Watson During setup you’ll be asked whether or not “Watson” should be turned on, and setup gives you more details as to what Watson does. I’d like to encourage everyone to allow Watson to be turned on. Watson will allow us to electronically collect information on any crashes you might experience. It’s the best possible way for us to track down and eliminate any bugs that might be in the service pack! Download and Install Contest I want to start this week off with a bang, and that means having each and every one of you downloading (and hopefully installing) the beta. As incentive, I’m going to give the 54th person to download the beta after this email goes out their choice of the hit XBOX game Halo* or a complete copy of Windows XP Home Edition**!