Timewarp: What Is a Relational Database?

Relational?!? Move On, Geezer! Maybe you're thinking that relational databases management systems (RDBMSs), like Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, are going the way of punched cards and rotary phones.  After all, there's been a lot of hype these days in the IT media about the rise of so-called NoSQL (Not Only SQL) databases.  Many new and upcoming CS and MIS graduates who like working with data might think that relational databases are, at best, soon-to-be legacy systems and, at worst, are a career dead-end. Wrong!!! It's true that all the cool-cat computing services (Amazon, Facebook, … [Read more...]

The Next Chapter: Inspiring and Motivating

I’d like to start this post first by thanking everyone who sent well wishes, both public and private, about my decision to move on from Quest Software.  It was very uplifting and encouraging to hear from you! So, again, the question of “Where am I off to?”  The answer is SQL Sentry.  I’m joining them as Director of Engineering Services, with a focus on technical sales and marketing, as well as a heavy dose of R&D design work.  (Read the press release here). In case you haven’t encountered SQL Sentry before, they’re a small Southern company concentrating on the SQL Server market.  In … [Read more...]

Why Do IT Pros Make Awful Managers?

I'm being a little bit incendiary with that title.  Many IT pros grow into very good managers.  But it almost never comes naturally. It takes hard work and many hard won lessons before most of us ever achieve a degree of skill and comfort with managing other people.  Thinking about moving into management?  Help is here! I've been spending the past several years turning the lessons I've learned as a manager into a set of courses for IT professionals who want to make the leap in to management.  I'll be presenting some of these lessons as full-day seminars.  I hope you can join me!  Details … [Read more...]

IT Horror Stories – Managers Run Amuck!

It seems like managers, so often, either go way overboard or go into hybernation and do way to little.  This month, I had the pleasure and horror to hear two stories of managers run amuck with power. The first is from a friend and IT professional I'll call Tony.  Tony said this: I worked for a firm as an IT manager when it was going through a relocation project.  We migrated from a shoddy IT infrastructure in a shoddy, unsecured server area (which had water pipes running around the back of the servers to the coffee machine with rodents visibly running around) to a shiny new office with a … [Read more...]

Want Another Reason to Hate iTunes?

I'm not one to whine.  Really.  I'm totally not a whiner.  However, I'm going to sound like one with this statement... I fricken HATE iTunes. There, I said it.  I'm already starting to feel better. Playing on Elisebeth Barrett Browning and her fantastic poem, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.", I'm going to count some ways that iTunes is filling me with inhuman, Hulk-like rage: Ridiculously frequent updates. Not the "Update Tuesday" sort of thing we get from Microsoft, but the "I'm going to interrupt you all the time, any time sort of upda..." - hold on, iTunes wants me … [Read more...]

Information Hoarder No More!

I hate to admit it, but I'm a hoarder.  Yes, like those insane people on the A&E TV show.  Only my hoarding is all virtual.  For example, take the image above.  That's just a tiny part of my Google Reader home page.  That's a tiny part of my Google Reader home page AFTER reading most of the day on a recent Sunday. I still had thousands of entries to go after hours of reading.  On top of that, I subscribe to some technical e-newsletters.  I'm a member of quite a few LinkedIn discussion groups, each of which produce daily and weekly newsletters. (I only subscribe to the weekly versions).  … [Read more...]

[OT] Gandhi’s Seven Social Sins

In light of the 99% and "Occupy Wall Street" movements, the Great Recession, historic levels of partisan rancour, terrorism, environmental havok, and continuous global warfare, I am reminded of the great Mahatma Gandhi in "Young India", 1925, and his Seven Social Sins. Who can point to a list of social sins better than this: Politics without principles Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality Science without humanity Worship without sacrifice It seems like our society and our daily news broadcasts depict a nation whose … [Read more...]

Women in Technology: A Quick Observation and a Quick Straw Poll

A bit of background:  Those aren't grand daughters of the Clampetts in the picture at right.  Those are my three daughters and three stepdaughters, all of whom I want to inherit the world - as little or as much as they want to take hold of.  (I already talked a bit about this in a post on my personal, family blog.  Be warned, it's all boring family photos and such).  Enabling them to have all of the choices and opportunities that are open to my son is a big motivating factor in my life.  So many years ago, when several PASS volunteers wanted to start doing more to build a community of support … [Read more...]

New on “Database Trends & Applications”

In last month's column, "2012 Might Really Be the End of the World as We Know It," I described a number of major developments in the IT industry that are likely to disrupt the life of database professionals everywhere.  I categorize those four disruptors - virtualization, cloud computing, solid state drives (SSD), and advanced multi-core CPUs - into two broad groups.  I'm going to continue an analysis of these disruptive technologies in inverse order.  Today, let's discuss SSDs. [READ MORE ON DATABASE TRENDS & APPLICATIONS ] … [Read more...]

Run as Radio Podcast – A little Denali

      In this podcast on the uber-popular podcast "RunAs Radio", host Richard Campbell asks me about what topics are of particular interest at Tech-Ed 2011, focusing the discussion on cloud and SQL Server "Denali" You can download the MP3 version of the podcast or the transcript here. … [Read more...]