It’s so easy to knock Microsoft. Everybody does it, ourselves included, and with good reason. And it’s even easier to knock Bill Gates. So just for a change, on Bill’s last day at Microsoft, today Friday 27th June 2008, we thought we’d write something positive and congratulatory about him. Born 28th October 1955, 52 year [...]

A developer that doesn’t get excited about new software features is like a dog that doesn’t get excited about a new Frisbee. DBAs, on the other hand, can be excitable in a slightly more subdued manner, but unlike developers, they don’t install and play with new software on their servers as soon as the beta [...]

If you’ve not had a play with the new features inside SQL Server 2008, then now’s a good time to give it a go. Microsoft has just this month released SQL Server 2008 Release Candidate Zero (RC0) to the public and you can download the 180 day version from here: Download SQL Server 2008 RCO. If you’re [...]

Programmers and coffee have had a long-term faithful relationship since computing first began and I’m no exception to this love affair. Personally, I can’t open a jar or bag of coffee without a good inhalation of the smell. Just walking past a cafe or even seeing a cup of coffee is enough to make me [...]

A report commissioned by the UK’s Prime Minister, following what the London Times described as a “growing moral panic” towards violent video games, has concluded that the harm they can cause justifies them carrying health warnings, not dissimilar to those on cigarette packets. The whole point of video games is that they are supposed to [...]

We have recently become affiliates of SQL Server DVD with database expert Kalen Delaney. Kalen has put her name and guru-level knowledge to a series of training videos on the internals of SQL Server and we have been given special permission to spread the word about these great products. The first DVD, Lesson 1, covers [...]

Clippy says “I’ve noticed that you’re stressed out by the Microsoft Office Assistant. Would you like me to: Administer a measured dose of Temazepam Administer a measured dose of Morphine Automatically report this to your manager Book you in for a health check up Change the Office Assistant to a mini Steve Ballmer?” So, Microsoft has applied for a patent [...]

Microsoft has just released a new February CTP for SQL Server 2008! With Windows Server 2008 collation support, this CTP is now available in ten different languages. The latest feature improvements include SPARSE COLUMNS, which is a more efficient way for empty data, or NULL values, to consume no physical storage space. Also of interest are [...]

Last night we belatedly celebrated SQL Server Club’s first birthday. I can’t believe it’s now been going for over a year! Well, any excuse for a party and nearly three weeks after the official birthday when we first launched the web site last year, we finally cracked open some bubbly. We toasted our community with champagne, [...]

Just to clear up a few dates… The Marketing Launch Microsoft are launching SQL Server 2008 on 27th February in Los Angeles, but this is purely a marketing exercise to tell the world about SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. This event is taking place for all three products as they will be [...]

Registration for the second SQLBits conference is now open and promises to be a day jam-packed with SQL Server events. The session list has also been announced (see below). It takes place on 1st March 2008 in Birmingham, UK, so if you want to attend, please register quickly to avoid disappointment. Simply fill in your details [...]

We developers are a friendly bunch, always keen to share our skills. It’s in the nature of the engineers to show others how things work and show off their deep understanding to their peer group for recognition and appreciation. You only have to search the web for a SQL Server error message or a coding [...]

New Year’s Eve Norb-style naturally revolves around real ale, a good pub atmosphere and fireworks. What better way to see in the New Year than a trip to London to combine beer and sightseeing? We started off our trip to London on an early train, so we had plenty of time to ride the tube to [...]

Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player This slick, black and glossy gadget stands less than two and a half inches tall and is a fine attraction in any lounge. This Tosh boasts enhanced HD DVD features, including picture-in-picture video, audio commentary, and Web-enabled network capabilities. With an Ethernet port built-in this device connects to [...]

Have you noticed how everybody has gadgets these days and not just us programmer types? Even my father who’s just turned 70 has a mobile phone. He often sends me text messages and email is now our main mode of communication. Ok, so he hasn’t got an MP3 player, but he’s just purchased a huge [...]

Last year, Bob Jackson’s blog about IT Christmas parties had us all in stitches with his tales of stuffed reindeer kidnappings, developers ending up in hospital and an IT Manager doing handstands while having ice-cubes put down his trousers. Christmas is now less than three weeks away and that means it’s office Christmas party time once [...]

Once upon a time, we had the Structured “Systems Analysis” approach to software development: Define what the customer needs from the system. Break it up into easy to understand chunks. Write an implementation plan and get it written off by the interested parties as viable. Break down the plan into codable software steps. Code the [...]

Yesterday Microsoft proudly announced the availability of SQL Server 2008 CTP for download. This new version promises “a significant leap in features, functionality, and improvements”. In total there are 18 significant improvements to the product as a whole, including areas such as Analysis Services and Reporting Services. And not to mention new T-SQL IntelliSense, backup [...]

It’s always been a bit of a brain-teaser to me, thinking about Microsoft using a development environment to develop a development environment. When Visual Studio 2005 shipped in November 2005, it had some pretty bad bugs in it; the worst one I experienced was when I added controls and graphics to a form, only to [...]

It’s just gone midday on Thursday. The sun’s shining, it’s nearly the weekend and I’m ready for lunch. I’m a desk-diner, unless I’m invited to the pub for a ploughman’s and a pint. This is rare as none of us in the Norb office are any good at coding after beer. Now in order to eat [...]

If you were one of the lucky ones who made it to the SQLBits SQL Server Conference at the Microsoft Campus in Reading (UK) a couple of weeks ago, you may have heard the latest news about SQL Server. The free SQLBits conference was organized by dedicated UK MVPs and one of the presenters, [...]

Now this is really clever! If you’re a bit of a Wi-Fi hot-spotter and use your mobile phone or laptop for internet access on the move, then this is for you. You can ditch any existing Wi-Fi keychain detectors you have because they’re now redundant. This is the future and it’s a black T-shirt that [...]

UK computer magazine PC Pro has 100,000 readers. That’s a pretty hefty figure! Now imagine if every single one of those readers left their PC on overnight. That’s a staggering figure! According to PC Pro, if all 100,000 computers were turned off at night, it would save enough electricity to power somewhere in the region of [...]

I hate Microsoft’s auto update functionality. Even though it’s basically a very good idea, it’s another classic case of badly implementing something. So what are my main objections to it? Firstly, because Microsoft insists on shipping such almighty, incremental service packs, the download times are phenomenal. But what really bothers me is the installation process: [...]

Do you remember the days when you used to use your keyboard a lot and only mouse occasionally? Do you even remember the days when we didn’t have mice? Things are different in the new generation of Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. When using an application, everyone used to know all the short cuts for [...]