I used to think the same thing, but learned that this isn't always the case. Sometimes, if we look at a tool and we like it, we can tell our management about it. If you press the case hard enough and show where the tool can be (or is) useful, you'd be surprised at how much of an impact you can make, especially if you introduce a tool to others and they start using it.

And that's partially the point of folks who are advertising on SQL Server Central. If you see the name of the tool, it'll stick with you, even if it is subconcious. But if you don't see the name at all, then they have little chance to make an impact, because companies don't tend to do elaborate source selections for a programming tool.

Case in point... one of the developers saw the PromptSQL review I did (this was before it was bought by Red Gate and renamed SQLPrompt). He shared it with the other developers where he worked and they ended up all grabbing some copies of it. He was a new employee at the company where he worked (I don't work with him) but it didn't take his management very long to agree with him. We saw the same thing where I work with DBGhost. A DBA, who has moved on to a new city and bigger and better things, introduced DBGhost in and it's a tool our DBAs now use. He first saw it as an ad on SSC.