The biggest problem with this is that Query Analyzer's Execute button was a green arrow, that looks remarkably similar to the Debug button in SSMS 2008.  So the hardest hit by this change are going to be people who skip 2005 and go right from 2000 tools -> 2008 tools.  They are going to be so used to clicking the green arrow that it will take them a while to train themselves that this button now has a different meaning.  Hopefully they will see your post and/or be smart like you were and remove the button altogether.

This is really weird... but I had absolutely not noticed there was a green arrow in SSMS 2008 until I read this post. And now it is absolutely jumping out at me and it's all I can do to keep from clicking it.

Yuck... away with it, NOW!

~Kalen

I hate that Green button too (partially it's besides Execute, partially from SQL 2000 QA)

so today, after learning I am not the only one

I decided to customize my toolbar, and re-arranged it all the way to right (right next to IntelliSense Enable button)

no more hitting it by accident

What's worse is the green arrow while working with Reporting Services actually DEPLOYS .rdl files to the active platform.  I made that mistake once and ended up having to go backup (luckily I had made a copy of all the .rdl files on the server) to get the production versions back on the production reporting server, then quickly disabled the production deployment configuration to avoid ever making that mistake again!

Now that I don't use Query Analyzer much anymore, it's not such a problem, but last year it was difficult to remember that the icon had different behavior among related Microsoft products.

Thanks for pointing this out - I use the Execute button or the keyboard shortcuts, and never even noticed it.  

I know this is an old thread, but an easy solution is to alt-drag the button off the toolbar.  

The sad thing is that somebody in Redmond thought this was a good idea?