Today the latest servicepack for BusinessObjects XI release 2 has been released (SP4). Initially only available through the Electronic Software Download (ESD) website, but we assume this will also become available through the public Technical Support site.

The product is offered in several packages:

• If you want to install the whole BusinessObjects Enterprise product then there is a build where SP4 is built into. This download is a single 1.8 GB file which will take a while to download, but it will make it easy to deploy.
• If you already have Enterprise installed, you can download just the SP4 file which is 'just' 1.3 GB in size.
• If you have just Desktop Intelligence and/or Designer installed and nothing else (!) then there is a 'client' version of the SP4, which is roughly 300MB in size
• Lastly there is a Crystal Reports SP4 where the SP is just 400MB or the complete build with SP4 built in (same ease of deployment when you need to install the product from scratch) which is again a large one: 1.2 GB.

So why would you want to install this Servicepack?

We would generally only recommend install any Servicepack if you have an issue that is supposed to be fixed with this servicepack or when you are installing the products for the first time. If you are already in production and there are no issues - do not install this Servicepack. if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

What is different? Well a number of things, from the release notes I mention the following:

• remember that 'Information On Demand' button that appeared from nowhere in SP2? you can now get rid of it easier.
• A print button shortcut to the PDF print is added to the HTML viewer for both Webi and deski reports - this is something your end users will love.
• Ability to disable export to Excel or PDF without disabling other options. Something your admin with like!
• And some clever command line tools to minimize your install footprint of Deski - you can reduce it now with about 360 MB by not having to installing samples, webi helpfiles, templates and/or logfiles. Great!

Anyway - enough to start reading the installation documents and play with it in a controlled environment. Go on!