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Helping MS Help Us

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I think SQL Server is a fantastic product. I've been using the platform over 20 years, across 8+ versions and 2 operating systems. It's provided me with a great career, and one I've enjoyed. However the software isn't perfect, with numerous bugs and holes. The Connect system was introduced years ago as a way for people to submit bugs and suggestions, vote on them, and provide feedback for Microsoft. 

Does it work? I think Connect is broken, and while I sympathize with the volume of suggestions that Microsoft must deal with, I'd hope that they actually listen, consider, and act on something other than documentation bugs. Those seem to be the only ones acted on lately.

Most of the items submitted are sent in by individuals, and they get one or two votes, but that's usually from the submitter's friends. Many of the items are, IMHO, not important enough to submit to Connect. My guess is they cause plenty of people in Microsoft to view Connect as a slop bucket where most users toss every complaint they have about the product. I sometimes wonder if items are submitted by users before they even spend a few minutes on a search engine trying to resolve their problem.

However there are some great suggestions, and this is one. It's asking for a new virtual table: Errors. This is in addition to the inserted and deleted tables. It's not just that I think so, but there are over 300 people that have voted it up. It's the number 6 highest voted item on Connect. Users see value in this, especially data warehousing users. If you read the comments, this thread, or this blog, you might agree. If so, then I'd encourage you to vote it up. If not, vote it down. Either way, leave a comment on why this would help (or not help) your work. I don't know if this will change Microsoft's mind on the issue, but it would be interesting to see if they respond with anything other than there are "resource constraints" preventing this from being implemented.

While you are at it, look over the list of top voted on items. There are some good ones:

If any of them would make your job easier, let Microsoft know. They always say that customer problems and situations give them reasons to enhance the product or fix issues. Let's give them a chance to actually prove that statement is true. Participate in our experiment and vote today.

Steve Jones


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