SQL 2008 Linked Server returns different results than local query

(remote linked server)

select * from [linkedserver].master.sys.sysdatabases

columns returned:
name    dbid    sid mode    status  status2 crdate  reserved    category    cmptlevel   filename    version

(local)

select * from master.sys.sy开发者_开发百科sdatabases 

columns returned:
name    database_id source_database_id  owner_sid   create_date compatibility_level collation_name  user_access user_access_desc    is_read_only    is_auto_close_on    is_auto_shrink_on   state   state_desc  is_in_standby   is_cleanly_shutdown is_supplemental_logging_enabled snapshot_isolation_state    snapshot_isolation_state_desc   is_read_committed_snapshot_on   recovery_model  recovery_model_desc page_verify_option  page_verify_option_desc is_auto_create_stats_on is_auto_update_stats_on is_auto_update_stats_async_on   is_ansi_null_default_on is_ansi_nulls_on    is_ansi_padding_on  is_ansi_warnings_on is_arithabort_on    is_concat_null_yields_null_on   is_numeric_roundabort_on    is_quoted_identifier_on is_recursive_triggers_on    is_cursor_close_on_commit_on    is_local_cursor_default is_fulltext_enabled is_trustworthy_on   is_db_chaining_on   is_parameterization_forced  is_master_key_encrypted_by_server   is_published    is_subscribed   is_merge_published  is_distributor  is_sync_with_backup service_broker_guid is_broker_enabled   log_reuse_wait  log_reuse_wait_desc is_date_correlation_on  is_cdc_enabled  is_encrypted    is_honor_broker_priority_on

what is going on?

Are you sure that second one wasn't

SELECT * FROM master.sys.databases

instead of

SELECT * FROM master.sys.sysdatabases?

Both sys.databases and sys.sysdatabases exist and return database information. The latter is a SQL 2000 view that is retained only for compatibility. The former is the preferred source of information for SQL 2008 and includes a lot more columns.

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms179900.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178534.aspx