February 2008 - Posts

• SQL Down Under show 33 - Allen White - Automating SQL administration with SMO and Powershell

  Hi Folks, SQL Down Under show 33 with SQL Server MVP Allen White discussing the automating of administration using SMO and Powershell is available for download from www.sqldownunder.com . Enjoy! Regards, Greg Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! Read More... Posted Friday, February 29, 2008 3:32 PM by Greg Low | 0 Comments

• SQL Cache Dependencies

  A little while back I wrote an article on SQL Cache Dependencies. I had a colleague ask about these today so I think it's time to blog it. (For more information, I also did a podcast some time back with my old mates Wally McClure and Paul Glavich from Read More... Posted Monday, February 25, 2008 10:26 PM by Greg Low | 8 Comments

• LINQ - Lessons that could have been learned from languages like Progress

  In a previous post , I mentioned lessons I learned from what I think Progress made mistakes at. However, when looking at the implementation of LINQ in .NET, I think much could have been learned from these types of applications and tools. At the time I Read More... Posted Monday, February 25, 2008 10:56 AM by Greg Low | 5 Comments

• Progress DBMS - three lessons for ISV's including collective deafness

  Alphatross posted an interesting reply to my blog entry about LINQ and Entity Framework terminology. He asked if I'd worked with the Progress DBMS . I have. Here are my thoughts on it. Obviously others will have a different view of history but I mention Read More... Posted Monday, February 25, 2008 10:04 AM by Greg Low | 6 Comments

• Are certification exams useful for experienced people?

  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 Read More... Posted Sunday, February 24, 2008 2:30 PM by Greg Low | 23 Comments

• Notification Services isn't deprecated in SQL 2k8, it's gone

  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 Read More... Posted Sunday, February 24, 2008 2:21 PM by Greg Low | 3 Comments

• SQL Down Under show 32 - Dr Michael Rys - SQL Server and XML

  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 Read More... Posted Saturday, February 23, 2008 5:32 PM by Greg Low | 2 Comments

• LINQ Terminology 101 for DBAs and Others Puzzled

  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. Read More... Posted Friday, February 22, 2008 1:49 PM by Greg Low | 8 Comments

• SQL Server 2008 CTP6 hits the streets and you can win an XBox

  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 Read More... Posted Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:16 PM by Greg Low | 0 Comments

• TechEd Orlando - 4 sessions and lots of friends there too

  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. Read More... Posted Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:18 PM by Greg Low | 1 Comments

• Crocodiles and curiosity

  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 Read More... Posted Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:01 PM by Greg Low | 0 Comments

• SQL Down Under show 31 - Craig Utley - Reporting Services

  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 http://www.sqldownunder.com Read More... Posted Thursday, February 14, 2008 4:48 PM by Greg Low | 0 Comments

• Happy Chinese New Year

  It's that time of the year again for all the blog readers of Chinese heritage. Shortly I'll be off to dinner and probably briefly to the local temple with Mai's parents. I hope all readers have a great Chinese new year! 祝你新年快乐。 (I hope I got that right Read More... Posted Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:44 PM by Greg Low | 4 Comments

• SQL Down Under show 30 - Pablo Castro - LINQ, Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services

  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! Share Read More... Posted Tuesday, February 05, 2008 8:03 AM by Greg Low | 2 Comments

• A change is as good as a holiday

  I finally decided to take Adam Machanic's suggestion and move my blog to SQLBlog.com. Thanks for organising it Adam! Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it! Read More... Posted Friday, February 01, 2008 1:11 PM by Greg Low | 7 Comments