I'll attempt to address your concerns one at a time here:

People do not confuse, people are either ignorant or misled by ignorants. That the case of the person who...

LOL.  Glad to hear it   By "whoever told you", I was referring to the folks who wrote those articles

Lived in Omaha way back in the day, always been a big Husker fan

Whoever told you that XML is shredded when stored in...

Hi Wendy,

The XML data is only stored in a pre-shredded format if you add XML Indexes to the column.  When you add XML Indexes, SQL Server shreds the XML and...

Hi DC -

You definitely get your point across well in your article.  The only things I would add are:

1)  You don't need to store native XML in the database in...

I would prefer a clustered index on productid since it will eliminate bookmark lookups, which I think would be the point of the covering index as well.

I understand the idea.  I don't see the point of creating a wide non-clustered covering index when a narrow clustered index would do the job better.

I may be overthinking it, but wouldn't it be better to just create a CLUSTERED INDEX on productid?

Hi Cory,

You're asking if XML is popular?  Yes, it is very widely used.

XML is a very popular format, and it is used all over the place.  A couple of examples: ...

In your situation, where the XML is in a strongly structured, regular format it will probably be advantageous to shred it and store it in relational form.

Without even needing to store...

Data stored in relational structures can be represented in many different hierarchies.  It is much more difficult, if not impossible, to do with data stored in hierarchical structures.  Granted, representing complex...

DC - Why should alarms go off?  There is a lot of data in the world that is better represented in a hierarchical structure than in having a relational structure...

Hi Frank,

It all depends on what you want to do with it.  For instance, when combined with some of SQL Server's other new features like HTTP Endpoints, etc., you can...

Hi all, thanks for the feedback!

To DC - One of the advantages of the XML data type is that you can easily shred your XML documents into relational data using...

Exactly, that's why we need to classify, investigate, etc.  If women are leaving IT because there is no stability, no advancement opportunities, low pay, bad work environment, etc., studying the...