Sql-Server

There has been an interesting discussion on an internal Microsoft mailing list regarding the certification process and exams. I’ve seen posts from many people that are very experienced with products saying they can’t see any point in the certification exams and that competencies in the Microsoft Partner program shouldn’t be based on exams. They feel these people should somehow just be recognised for their other contributions.

Regarding the certification process, I don’t agree that anyone should be just “grandfathered” in. Any of the people that  have a great deal of knowledge and experience should be able to just take the exams and be done with it. I find it really easy to take them at events like TechEd. I typically book in for one each morning at 8am and usually it’s only $50.

2008-02-24

Darren Neimke posted a link to some great content today from his colleague Steven Nagy. Steven had done a bunch of posts on getting started with Notification Services.

It’s a great set of posts but it’s important to get the message out that in the next version of the product, Notification Services isn’t just deprecated, it’s gone. It isn’t wise to use it for any new development work unless you’re intending to stay on SQL Server 2005 for the life of your application.

2008-02-24

Hi Folks,

SQL Down Under show 32 with SQL Server product group member Dr Michael Rys is now available for download from www.sqldownunder.com . In this show, Michael discusses why XML matters in SQL Server, provides an overview and tips on the support provided in earlier versions and discusses the changes upcoming in SQL Server 2008.

Enjoy!

Regards,

Greg

2008-02-23

I was responding to a discussion in the SQL MVP newsgroups today about LINQ. A comment was made about understanding of the basic terminology and layers of software. I figured I should blog this as well to help someone.

1. LINQ per se is unrelated to databases. It’s a language extension that provides an easy to use query syntax for things that are enumerable. You can build a “LINQ to xxx” provider where xxx is almost anything. The thing I find weird about it is that they used SQL keywords as operators at all.

   2008-02-22

SQL Server 2008 CTP6 hit the streets today. You can get it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=749bd760-f404-4d45-9ac0-d7f1b3ed1053&displaylang=en&tm

It’s getting pretty close to feature complete now. Microsoft is keen to have it tested like no other version before. To assist with this, they’ve introduced a bug bash competition with a bunch of XBox’s and other interesting prizes if you help find issues with the CTP. Details are here:

http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=7734

It’s time to go bug-hunting !

2008-02-20

Late last night I watched the end of a wonderful documentary from the BBC called Dragons Alive. Although Mai didn’t really want to discuss it at 12:30am, it really got me thinking about the nature of curiosity and its importance in how we advance science and through it, society.

Most awesome advances in science seem to come through people asking seemingly child-like questions. Some of the ones presented at the end of the show were great examples.

2008-02-19

I got the good news today that I’ve had 4 sessions accepted in the first round of approvals for TechEd Orlando. Two are in the developer week and two in the IT Pro week. I’m really looking forward to those two weeks as TechEd’s are always great events.

Good to see so many of my colleagues also doing sessions. Peter Myers has two precons together with Douglas McDowell and Craig Utley. Peter also has two sessions in the dev week. Adam Machanic is really excited about his first TechEd session coming up. I just know it’ll be great so don’t miss it. Fernando Guerrero has an interesting session planned, Andrew Kelly has several as does Itzik Ben-Gan both of whom are always great value. Maciej Pilecki also has a session this year that looks excellent.

2008-02-19

SQL Down Under show 31 features Solid Quality Mentor (and ex-SQL-CAT team member) Craig Utley. In the show, Craig discusses current reporting services tips and then previews the changes in SQL Server 2008 for it. It’s now available for download from https://sqldownunder.com .

Enjoy!

2008-02-14

SQL Down Under show 30 with guest SQL Server product team member Pablo Castro discussing LINQ, Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria) for the DBA and database developer is now available for download from www.sqldownunder.com .

Enjoy!

2008-02-05

I finally decided to take Adam Machanic’s suggestion and move my blog to SQLBlog.com. Thanks for organising it Adam!

2008-02-01