Finally the long wait (for me at least) is over. As of today you can download the CTP3 PowerPivot and BIDS. CTP means Community Technology Preview meaning that this is a preview of the final product. But it is very rich in features ! I will do multiple blogpost over the next weeks explaining a lot of the new features.
My collegue Kay Unkroth has created a great blogpost summarizing the release which you can find here. Another big part of this release is Project Crescent which uses PowerPivot and Tabular projects as source. Read this blog post by the RS team for more information about Crescent.
Download PowerPivot 64 bits here.
Download SSAS server including the tabular service, BIDS and Crescent here.
Have fun with the CTP and let me know what you think ! Ow and most of all don’t forget to file bugs / suggestions on connect if you want your voice to be heard by the product team, see here why and how. To directly go to the SQL server connect page go here: https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/Feedback and add your feedback.
If you want the functionality of Crescent but would like to have it without installing the entire Microsoft stack, please take a look at this comparison of Microsoft Crescent and Windward AutoQuery. AutoQuery provides all the functionality of Crescent with no server components to install, configure, and administer.
http://blogs.windwardreports.com/davidt/2011/07/microsoft-crescent-and-autoquery.html