It's nice to be able to choose what you want, or what might fit you better. Too much choice, however, can be a bad thing, even in software where it seems we could have unlimited choices. Steve Jones tasks about the need to limit choice.  Read more...

For a fun Friday poll, what type of SQL or database related name would you give to yourself or someone else? Steve Jones asks the question after someone sends an email about naming their new boat with a SQL name.  Read more...

Maintaining a professional network can take some effort from you, but the modern social networking tools can help. Steve Jones talks about some of the benefits from keeping in touch with other professionals this way.  Read more...

We aren't necessarily liable for data breaches at our company, but will that last forever? Steve Jones talks about some things that you might want implement to ensure that you aren't liable if there ever is a security issue.  Read more...

When you have a team of people working together to manage systems, communication becomes important. Steve Jones notes that a lack of working with each other and letting the rest of the team know what you are doing can cause unnecessary work for others.  Read more...

Would you like to have only SQL Server Authentication on your instances? That's the subject of this Friday's poll.  Read more...

Software licensing can be complex and confusing. Even in Windows and SQL Server, where hard limits are not enforced, people have problems determining how they should license software. Steve Jones talks about what vendors could do to help us.  Read more...

Why attend a conference? After the PASS Summit and SQL Connections, Steve Jones shares a few thoughts about the benefits of attending a conference for employees.  Read more...

It seems that many companies don't have the luxury of working with a variety of hardware configurations to test their architecture before deploying their applications. Some of the issues involve time and some involve tools. Steve Jones has an idea that could help with the latter today.  Read more...

This Friday Steve Jones has a poll for the programmers and hybrid DBAs out there. If you work with code, why do you use C#? Or why not?  Read more...

Virtualization is touted as a great way to save money, but it's a one time event. Once you've consolidated a server, you can't do it again. However consolidation isn't necessarily the same and Steve Jones tells us why.  Read more...

The decisions to install service packs and cumulative updates is often confusing to new DBAs. Many of them install every update, often without a good reason. Steve Jones asks why we might not have a better way to install updates, maybe even helping us decide if we need them.  Read more...

Testing our applications is important, but at what level do we need to test? Steve Jones talks about unit testing today, and wonders if this is prevalent for SQL Server developers.  Read more...

A litmus test is a way of determining your answer to a question based on a single issue or response. Steve Jones sees this as a bad idea, especially when looking to hire technical people.  Read more...

Steve Jones has attended the PASS Summit annually, and found value. But for this Friday's poll, did you find value this week? Or have you in the past? Let others know.  Read more...

One of the very common things that is needed in SQL Server is performing a restore of a database. It's also one of the most important things that needs to take place. So why isn't this a simpler process? Steve Jones wonders why we can't make this a simpler process.  Read more...

Sharepoint is a product that many IT people despise, but it's a popular seller for Microsoft. Steve Jones thinks that Sharepoint's growth is a good thing for DBAs as well.  Read more...

An open letter asks Google to change their default protocol to be more secure. Are there things that we might want to do inside SQL Server to make it more secure by default? Any low hanging fruit that would help the platform?  Read more...

What type of previous experience makes a good DBA? Is it necessary to have other experience? Steve Jones asks the question in today's Friday poll.  Read more...

With the election of the Board of Directors complete for 2009, Steve Jones takes a step back to examine what we might want from a professional organization. If you care about having an organization for SQL Server professionals, read this and let us know if you agree or disagree.  Read more...