SQL Server 2008 compatibility level

Question

After migrating a database from SQL Server 2000 to 2008, in what situations is it justified to leave compatibility level to 80 permanently. The system consists of stored procs, triggers, views and tables only. No DTS, reports and other non-database engine stuff.

Answer 1

Some possible reasons:

• The *= and =* operators for outer join are supported with a warning message.
• SET XACT_ABORT OFF is allowed inside a trigger.
• For locking hints in the FROM clause, the WITH keyword is always optional.
• You use the following PIVOT, UNPIVOT, REVERT, TABLESAMPLE but not as keywords
• The FOR BROWSE clause is allowed (and ignored) in views.
• Character string constants and varbinary constants of size greater than 8000 are treated as text, ntext, or image.

So if you are currently doing any of those things and don't want to rewrite anything you might consider staying at 80.

You can take a look at this link to see the full list.