April 25, 2025 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 50 Years of Microsoft
April 25, 2025 at 7:29 am
This will start a bit off-topic but I will get to MS eventually...
My introduction to computing was in what is now called year 11, but back then was year 5 of secondary school, equivalent to year 5 of junior high in US, back in 70/71. We did some programming in City & Guilds Mnemonic, such fun. Three years later, filled with not concentrating on schoolwork, I just failed to get into uni and instead in 1974 got a job as a computer operator at a major UK company. Their big computer was a IBM 370/158 with 1Mb storage. The smaller one had 768Kb. Work came in from all over the country through comms lines, and we interacted with the beasties using screens and keyboards. Very advanced for the time. I played with Basic, but soon learned PL/1, and in 1978 moved into the computer security team. This started 2 decades of doing increasingly complex analysis and programming, using either PL/1 or COBOL depending on the job, working on IBM, Unisys and ICL kit. Databases included VSAM files, DMS1100, IDMS, CICS, IMS, and DB/2.
I got my first PC in 1988, an Amstrad. This ran a version of Dos with Gem. This was replaced in 1992 with a 486 thing with 4Mb running OS/2. When Office was launched by MS I soon got a copy and it was very stable on that machine.
The late 1990s saw my first exposure to Windows, working as DB team leader at a software house, but it took until 2000 before my job included SQL Server. Things happened that kept me on Windows-based kit until I retired in 2021.
The company I joined in 2001 was fairly leading edge, but insisted on keeping to the same setup 5 years later. I have always cared about my own brand so got a Technet subscription and a big PC and ran SQL2005 on Windows 2003 at home. This payed dividends 2 years later when I became Database Architect at Totaljobs Group. Without the things I had done in my own time that move would not have happened.
I did my first retirement in 2014, but a NGO I had been helping called Tearfund offered me a 1 to 2 day per week job dealing with their DB systems. Within 3 years a collection of single instance machines running most available versions of SQL server changed into a distributed cluster running the latest version, with AGs for failover. I finally retired from them in 2021.
At home I run both Windows 10 and 11, and sometimes get asked to upgrade friends laptops. However I no longer have the home hyper-v environment that allowed me to explore new SQL skills. Using this kit undoubtedly allowed my career to get to places it would not have done if I had relied only on employer training.
So, 50 years of Microsoft, 25 years of me using Microsoft. For me it was (mostly) a good time.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
April 25, 2025 at 3:12 pm
I started at school on a Commodore Pet, eventually getting myself a Vic20.
When I 1st used a PC there was a choice between DOS and CPM. WordPerfect was the dominant word processor. Either Lotus123 or Supercalc were the the dominant spreadsheets and Microsoft's entry was Multiplan. PC databases were dBase II with the Clipper compiler if you were lucky.
I think there was more to Microsoft's dominance than IBM adopting MSDOS. I feel that Microsoft's competitors had products that were individually better but Microsoft had a more consistent interface.
I was sent on SQL Server 6.5 training and that really lit the blue touch paper on my career. When SQL Server 7.0 came out with Data Transformation Services as a bundled ETL capability a whole new world exploded. I never got on with SSIS, of the various ETL tools I have used it is my least favourite.
I am amazed that IBM didn't enjoy greater success with DB2. They could have taken the DB world by storm but somehow it didn't capture hearts and minds in quite the way it should have. If you deal with IBM this failure becomes less amazing.
I worked for a documentation and content management consultancy and was exposed to Microsoft SiteServer (Site with the unwritten H as we devs used to pronounce it). MCSMS wasn't much better. Before I die I should like to see a Sharepoint implementation where I can honestly say "I get it, this is worthwhile". BizTalk seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.
I admire Bill Gates for building Microsoft and I also admire him for what he has been doing through the Gates foundation. He's a very bright guy using his intelligence and resources wisely.
April 28, 2025 at 1:01 pm
I remember introducing both Windows and QuickTime to the USAF's SAC in Omaha. We did presentations and were first there to use PowerPoint on the big screens (8) in the command center for weekly briefings. Was so much fun to move from hard copy slides to a Power Pivot slide deck. Also, before I left in summer of 1992, we tested a QuickTime video on Madonna there, just for fun. Other memory is installing a 1 MB RAM card in a PC slot. One of the full size slots. Think that was to be able to run Windows.
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