Yukon
Yukon
Well, I've been very quiet due to tons of work (this is a good thing).
But, I've got things I want to say, so we finally setup a blogging engine over at MCW Tech. You'll find my new blog there. I'll still blog about SQL Server related items (and much more since it's on our site). I want to say a big thank you to Donny and Doug for providing this little bit of space.
My new blog is at [0]. Also, I finally convicned Ken Getz to start a blog [1]. He's always got something to say. :-D
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[0] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/brianr/
[1] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/keng/
I've not had a chance to download it yet, but SQL Express Manager (XM) [1] for SQL Express is now available. You'll need the newer SQL Express bits [0] to install XM.
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[0] SQL Express bits – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=66120BE8-826A-482A-8264-B1836F28FD79&displaylang=en
[1] SQL Express Manager bits – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8f92556a-6c3b-47d2-9929-ecdc5a4d25ae&displaylang=en
At msdn.microsoft.com in SUBSCRIBER downloads!
Get it while it's hot!
Edits:
- Added link to MSDN
- Yes this is Beta 2 of Yukon (it's new name is SQL Server 2005)
- It's the developer edition (MSFT has not broken down what SKUs will be available)
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My article for MSDN Online is up at here on managing a music collection with Visual Basic Express and SQL Server Express Beta 1.
FYI, I used earlier builds than Beta 1 to write it but the code was run against Beta 1 (hence the dely in posting).
It's not complete yet so ideas are welcome. And yes, you need to install the included DirectX Managed Runtime interfaces to get things to run/compile.
Remember it's a sample built on pre-release software. :-D
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I agree. (Simon said it here.) It was great that Sam did blog about it. I don't want end-users downloading SQL Express. I don’t want most developers to download it. I only want developers who are into pain and suffering to do it and then provide feedback (which Sam has done).
The problem with Microsoft's current openness with its early releases is that more people are getting access to very early software that just doesn't work so well at times. (BTW, if you know what the core issues are AND are willing to download VB/C#/C++ Express, you can have quite a good time). That said expectations are very high and so when people are let down, they let Microsoft know. But it really is all about expectations.
My point is if you don't have time to suffer, don't download. These are not release bits. In years past, Microsoft only had private early releases and limited the pain. In an effort to be open, they’ve opened up access because, yes, Microsoft is eager to get things out, get feedback, and get excitement going. However, there are times when you must ignore the siren's song.
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Reading Sam Gentile’s recent entry on SQL Express, tells me that there are some issues.
Now I know from reading Sam’s blog that he is in fact a very smart person. However, sometimes, our expectations get in the way of our brains. What Sam was hoping for doesn’t exist yet. And actually it never will—exactly.
First off SQL Express is going to be free. Yes free. While the other Express family members will at some point have a price, they will not be free. Thus the difference between free and “a price” in features can be quite significant. However, in this case, the issues are as follows:
- SQL Express today is Beta 1 at best!
- SQL Express is designed to have a very small download footprint (25 Mb or less at RTM). Extras will be optional. I’ve not heard about plans for a CD-based experience that includes everything.
- SQL Express replaces MSDE 2000 in the SQL Server 2005 timeframe. MSDE never had GUI tools in the first place so I have to say his Beta 1 expectations are a bit high.
- SQL Express will however have a GUI manager (XM as Sam points out). It just isn’t ready.
Sam rightly points out that this should not be shipped out to end users. But it hasn’t? Last time I checked it is clearly marked as a beta for developers. If you’re going to get this pissed off to the point of profanity, maybe this early beta is not for you.
But this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
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In my earlier post I stated that SQL Express can only address 512 Mb of memory. Turns out Microsoft changed their mind and made it 1 Gb.
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http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/sql/top10/default.aspx covers the Top 10.
The biggie I didn't mention earlier was that there WILL be GUI tools included. Wahoo! (Note they're NOT in the current bits--not until August).
More details at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/sql/default.aspx.
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Today at Tech Ed Europe in Amsterdam Microsoft pulled open the kimono.
The new Express family of development tools (http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/) are live in beta format. This includes Visual Basic, C#, C++, J#, and Web developer editions.
These new “value” priced editions of the Visual Studio family lower the barriar to entry. You get real development enviroments—IntelliSense, Edit & Continue, Visual Data Tools, Smart Tags, etc.—just like in the full-blown products. Pricing has not been announced, but Microsoft says they will be very affordable.
But wait, there’s more. There’s also SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. This is the replacement for MSDE 2000. It will be free as before.
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SSE) has some great new changes:
- Support for XCopy style deployment
- No workload governor
- Support for databases up to 4Gb in size
- Support for up to 50 instances
- Only supports 1 processor
- Only supports 512 Mb of RAM
I’ve got two articles about SSE and VB Express coming out real soon with more details (one should be on the web today, the other is in MSDN Magazine (September edition I think).
More to come.
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Over the last few days, I've had no less five different people review my slide deck for the PDC. In doing so, the question came up, who's your target attendee? At which point I sent the pre-con descripton (available at [0]) to them. But often times, I have attendees to workshops, at other shows like VSLive! and Tech Ed, complain that the session or workshop wasn't what they expected? For example, at one show I was doing a 'Day of .NET'. The description clearly stated that Visual Basic .NET was the language being used. Yet some attendees were expecting C#. Hence, the title of this post.
Now since my pre-con will cover data tier design, SQL Server 2000, and SQL Server code-named “Yukon” plus some Whidbey Windows Forms, I can go many ways with the content. But since anyone who's coming to this shouldn't alredy be using Yukon or Whidbey, there should be plenty to keep everyone entertained and hopefully learning. We shall see. That said, I plan on showing Visual Basic .NET and C# to keep people happy when managed code is involved.
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[0] http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/precon.aspx
I've been a big fan of virtual pc products like VMWare and Virtual PC for a long time. I actually first used Virtual PC on a Mac. As a long time user of VMWare, I gave up when I had too many problems with version 4 and couldn't get tech support to respond (but that's another story) and switched to Virtual PC.
Since I do a ton of testing on pre-release products, I find using virtual PCs a great tool. One of my favorite features is Undo drives. Basically, you do a bunch of work for a while and then when you shut down the virtual PC, you can just throw away the changes or keep them and have the changes merged with your main image. Well, yesterday I got a great tip from a co-worker, Ken Getz [0].
You see, I've got a two 9 Gb virtual PC images (assigned 512Mb of RAM) with VS 2003, SQL 2000 SP3, Whidbey, and Yukon that I'm using for my pre-con on Sunday. One runs Windows XP, the other Windows 2003. Ken got tip from a mutual friend, Bernard Wong (the former wizard behind the agent [1]). It seems Virtual PC has a feature called Diff Drives.
Here's what you do:
- Create your Virtual PC as normal. Install your software and get it ready for use.
- From the main Virtual PC File menu select Virtual Disk Wizard. Hit next on the first wizard page.
- Select Create a new floppy or hard disk image and click next.
- Select Create a hard disk image and click next.
- For the disk location, specify a file name for the DIFF drive. One way to do it is to navigate to your current virtual PC's VHD file, select it and then add Diff_ as prefix.
- Once you've got a file name, click next.
- Now select the third option on the list Differencing Disk Image and click next.
- On the next page, select your main Virtual PC VHD file and click next. This is called the parent drive.
- Finally, click Finish.
At this point you need to make one adjustment to your existing virtual PC's settings. You need to change your hard drive to point to the DIFF VHD file, not the main. Once this is complete, you can now use your virtual PC and not have your huge multi-gigabyte file be touched! In fact, you can even mark your main image read-only.
What I love about this is that I can use my VPC all week and at the show and not have to worry about always undoing. Once I give the pre-con, I can throw out my DIFF drive and I'll have clean virtual PC to work with on other testing. How sweet it that? One more thing, you can continue to use an UNDO drive with your DIFF drive. This brings up one more benefit: merging changes from your UNDO drive to your DIFF drive is so much faster in my subjective tests. Enjoy!
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Well, PDC is just about a week away. I'm really looking forward to it. One great thing for me this year is not only am I attending (how could I not? It's in my backyard), but I'm presenting the Data pre-con. [0] Should be a ton of fun since I plan on building a Whidbey Windows Forms application that works with a Yukon database. All in just over six hours. Can't wait!
[0] http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/precon.aspx
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