Can I pay for and download a Developer edition outside of the US?
I need to study for my certification, currently I am taking a break in China and it would be a great time to study. However, buying a Developer Edition appears to:
1. Only be possible if you are in the USA. (very strange considering THE REST OF THE WORLD also uses SQL Server Microsoft... and the product is rather old now to not be appearing in other countries).
2. The training materials and exams are available outside the USA. Yet you cannot buy a Developer Edition outside of the USA. Whaaat? Do you think we are supposed to magically know how SQL Server 2012 operates?
3. After going here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/get-sql-server/try-it.aspx and following the link through "Get SQL Server 2012", it sent me here: http://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/pd/SQL2012EvalCTA/enus/default.aspx
After selecting English US 64bit version, an ISO download started which is corrupt as it downloaded 4kb and then stopped. So I tried the 32 bit version, also corrupted. Great.
So, to sum up, you can't buy the Developer Edition outside of the US. You can download the beta version. But when you try to download the Beta version, its corrupt.
So Microsoft... do you want people to actually USE SQL Server 2012 or are you the worlds biggest tease?