I Just Don’t Understand Why You Don’t Update SSMS.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, SQL Server Management Studio was included as part of the SQL Server installer.

Optimism Without Illusion or Why AI Needs Blunt Technologists

There is a temptation, especially in technology, to mistake momentum for maturity.

How Database Professionals Sent a Million Emails a Day from SQL Server

This is part of a look back at the history of SQL Server Central as a part of our 25-year celebration in Feb 2026. "They want how much?" That was a question I got from Andy one afternoon as we discussed how we were going to manage the growth of SQL Server Central. I had […]

You Have Homework

I'm very humbled and honored to be able to type this next sentence. My friend, Buck Woody, sometimes gives me book recommendations. Except, with Buck, you have to understand, it's not really a recommendation. It's an assignment. There'll be a test later. You had best have studied. Failing, well, let's not discuss that, it's too […]

Let’s Build a Better KILL. What Do We Need to Consider?

When there’s a performance emergency, a lot of us perform the same manual tasks over and over. We run sp_BlitzWho or sp_WhoIsActive, look for blocking, long-running or out-of-control queries, and kill them.

Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy Stuff

I'm actually writing this on my day off. I took a bunch of vacation around the holidays because I could, and because I don't take enough the rest of the year. Anyway, I'm just going to share how I've been spending my time (not counting time with the family, which I am certainly doing). I […]

UNISTR Escape

Deprecated Feature Tracking

The AI Bubble and the Weak Foundation Beam

The problem that I continue to struggle with the AI Bubble is not innovation, but who has leverage. The AI industry has quietly constructed a capital stack with too many mutual dependencies and too few independent cash flows. When AI profitability hiccups, the financial impact does not land in one place. It cascades across the entire championship and everyone loses and not all players are equally positioned to survive it. This is the AI Bubble in a foundational nutshell.

How to Query JSON Data Quickly in SQL Server, Part 2: SQL Server 2025

SQL Server 2025 and .NET 10 bring several new improvements to storing JSON natively in the database and querying it quickly.