It's an old story you've probably heard before.  Provide a free version of your software product with strict limitations on performance or other specific capabilities so that folks can give it a try without risk, while you minimize the chance of cannibalizing sales of your commercial products.  Microsoft has take this strategy ...

The best emotion to describe how I'm feeling is 'astounded'.  I'm astounded that I'm in such august company to be speaking the SQLIntersection (#iSQL) conference.  Read the blog post from my first SQL Server mentor, Kimberly Tripp, which tells you all about SQLintersection.Check out this list of speakers:Aaron Bertrand, ...

When you install the database projects template of SSDT you get SQL Server Object Explorer (SSOX) installed as well. SSOX is a pane within Visual Studio and is the main enabler of the Connected Development experience that the SSDT team have attempted to provide. SSOX provides some really cool capabilities that are not in SQL Server Management ...

SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Cumulative Update #3 Build # 11.0.3349 KB Article: KB #2812412 38 fixes! Relevant for builds 11.0.3000 -> 11.0.3348 NOT for SQL Server 2012 RTM (11.0.2100 -> 11.0.2999) SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Cumulative Update #10 Build # 10.00.5835 KB Article: KB ...

Writer: Karthika Raman Technical Reviewers: Guy Bowerman, Pat Schaefer, Andrew Cherry   On January 24, 2013, the SQL Server engineering team released new functionality in SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2, enabling SQL Server native backup to cloud. The steps to creating a SQL Server backup to Windows Azure Blob storage are simple, but if a ...

SSDTBI for Visual Studio 2012 enables customers to use the Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Reporting Services project templates within the Visual Studio 2012 shell.  The components are delivered as a web download on the Microsoft Download center and will be available through Web Platform Installer.   This release is the ...

The SQL Server team has released CU #6 for SQL Server 2012 RTM.KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2728897Build # is 11.0.2401This build has 22 fixesRelevant for builds 11.0.2100 -> 11.0.2400. Do not attempt to install on SQL Server 2012 SP1 (any build >= 11.0.3000) or any previous version. 

 The SQL Server Evaluation Edition is a great way to get a fully functional and free instance of SQL Server for learning and developing solutions. The edition has a built in expiry of 6 months from the time that you install it. I often install an Eval edition on a machine to set up a test or demo, and then 6 months later it comes as ...

I always seem to get a question or two along the lines of ''What's it like on a SQLCruise?'' as I present at various conferences, SQL Saturdays, and user group meetings.  Since we just finished up the 2013 Miami SQLCruise, I thought it'd be a good time to recap so that you can judge for yourself if you'd ever want to do it yourself. ...

The SQL Server team has released CU #2 for Service Pack 1, which should include all of the fixes from CU #5, as well as some others.  KB article: KB #2790947 Build # is 11.0.3339 This build has FIFTY fixes! There is also a KB article (KB #2792921) describing a couple of new features delivered with this cumulative update: ...