Rick Heiges

Ship.

That's what is now on the back of T-shirts at MSFT today.  For those of you who were at PASS last month, you know what I am talking about.  (Thanks to Kent Tegels)

Congrats to the team in Redmond to get this out the door.  I hope that many of the team members will be in San Francisco at the Launch.  I will be at the PASS booth.  Come by and say "Hello" if you are there.  It will be a big day!

 

Another cool feature in SQL Server 2005 is the DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION option.  This feature is off by default, but can improve query performance.  It is necessary for the two datetime columns to involved in the equi-join between tables and also be used in the predicate.  This tip I discovered in reading "SQL Server 20005: Changing the Paradigm".  Check it out!

FYI - The call for presentations is closing tomorrow for the PASS Europeann Conference to be held in Barcelona, Spain in February. 

When I presented at PASS on SQL Server Express, a question came up concerning hyper-threaded or multi-core CPUs and how SQL Server would "see" these from SQL Server Express.  My response was "In the other editions, a single license is good for a hyperthreaded or multi-core CPU."  I soon found out that in SQL Server Express 2005, this is not the case.  The Express edition is limited to a single scheduler.  That means it cannot take advantage of a hyperthreaded or multi-core CPU.  Remember, Express is the FREE license version that will replace MSDE, and it really isn't surprising that it only has one scheduler enabled.  There are some really neat things in Express like the CLR and Service Broker.

However, there is some good news.  I just saved a load of money by switching to GEICO. ;-)  Just kidding....  All of the other editions of SQL Server 2005 do take advantage of the latest advancements in CPUs while maintaining a cost effective license strategy.  For Example, Workgroup Edition is limited to 2 CPUs (for licensing).  If these 2 CPUs are hyper-threaded and dual core, SQL Server will use 8 schedulers (it will see 8 CPUs).  There are some other limitations of this edition, but it shows how much value that can be gained by utilizing the latest CPU technology and Microsoft's Licensing strategy.  This is a very compelling reason to switch to SQL Server 2005 from other database platforms.

Do you get annoyed when someone uses a term incorrectly?  I do, but it can be understandable because I know that I use terms incorrectly all of the time.  I am not perfect.  But I would think that in the course of business, organizations would be more careful about the terms they use and the meaning they convey.  Sometimes, these terms are incorrectly used by business and then begin to corrupt the common everyday usage of this term.

What the heck am I talking about and what does this have to with SQL?  At the PASS Summit during the SIG Bowl, a trivia question asked "What state has 3 of the 5 highest peaks in the Continental US?".  My first reaction was "Alaska", but the accepted answer was "Colorado".  I mentioned to a nearby attendee that the term "Continental" was correctly used; it shold have been "Contiguous".  Alaska is part of the Continental US because it is on the North American Continent.  Hawaii is the only state NOT on the North American Continent.  The attendee mentioned something about "Tell that to UPS and FedEx". 

There are many businesses that define "Continental US" as the "Lower 48".  That is incorrect when you consult greography books and web sites.  The Continental US has 49 states.  The Contiguous US has 48.  I am surprised that some lawyer who wants to ship something to Alaska hasn't jumped all over this one yet to get a better rate.

I know that I will attempt to use the proper term, but will probably be reminded of Alaska the next time I forget.  BTW, Alaska has a bunch of higher peaks than Colorado.

   So much was happening at PASS that I could not get away to blog about Thursday by itself.

Thursday night, the PSS folks put on a special session for MVPs and PASS Speakers.  I was fortunate enough to be invited.  The brain power in that room at the PSS center was impressive.  Think about all the damage that could be done......

Bob Ward, Bob Dorr, and Keith Elmore each gave us a 30 minute session about migration and some neat tricks coming down the road in 2005.  I had been up since 5am and was starting to tune out during some of it, but I managed to stay involved in the discussions.  My colleague, Larry Chesnut from Scalability Experts, was having a great time.  He was feverishly taking notes during this time.  I can't wait to see what he puts in his blog at www.scalabilityexperts.com.  Larry used to work in PSS and knew just about the entire staff. 

I also spoke to the MSFT e-learning folks at great length.  I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that they could sign-up for the beta version of the new SQL Server Exams on the PASS website at www.sqlpass.org.  These beta tests are FREE!  Sign-up today!

There was an election that ended on Thursday as well.  I was fortunate enough to be re-elected to the Board of Directors for PASS.  We have three new Board Members.  They are Randy Dyess, Bill Graziano, and Paul Nielson.  Since the election is a real election, not everyone on the slate can of course win; however, I know that Vijay Bhatia and Adam Solesby will continue to support PASS.

Friday, Dr. Gray gave the keynote.  He predicted that we will eventually have system that just "Insert" without Updates and Deletes.  The newest verision of the data will be simplay added to the system.  WOW - this got me thinking about how tings are put together.  It is refreshing to step back and see things from 40,000 feet.  Often, we get into too many details and can't see the big picture.

Friday was also a sad day because it is the LAST day of the summit.  I knew that I made a lot of new friendsand got tocatch up with old ones, but it is still a sad day for me.  Lucky for me it was happy hour at the Margarita Bar immediately following the end of the summit!