On May 19, 2014, Microsoft released SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Cumulative Update 17, which is Build 10.00.5861.0. This Cumulative Update has nine hotfixes in the public fix list, most of them for the Database Engine.
The most interesting one to me is this one:
FIX: Performance problems occur when database lock activity increases in SQL Server
This issue is going to affect systems with 16 or more logical processors, running on SQL Server 2008 or newer. The fix has been released for SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014, but not for SQL Server 2008 R2 (since SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 CU13 has not been released yet). This hotfix introduces DATABASE lock partitioning when trace flag T1236 is enabled at startup.
One thing that you may not be aware of is that this is the final Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2008. As Microsoft states:
Note This is the last cumulative update for SQL Server 2008. Mainstream support for SQL Server 2008 ends on July 8, 2014. For more information about the lifecycle for SQL Server, check out the Microsoft product support life cycle information
So far, Microsoft has not announced their plans about whether there will be a SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 4. While you might assume that it is now too late to affect Microsoft’s decision process, this is actually not the case. First, you can comment on the SQL Server Release Services Blog post that I linked above.
Second, you can up vote my Microsoft Connect item on this subject. Even more effective is if you write a polite, well-reasoned comment on that Connect Item, explaining why you care whether or not Microsoft releases a final set of Service Packs for SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. Try to explain how this decision will affect you and your customers.
Taking just a few minutes to do these items is very, very helpful to this effort! You should also feel free to blog and tweet about this to help spread the word and gather more public support.