I run Windows VMs in VMware Player on Linux. Best of both worlds for a cross platform developer/admin.

There's only a few reasons we and our clients use SQL Server. It works, it's mostly cost effective, it can be installed on premise and no one has gotten fired...

Many development tools are continuing to trend more towards "here's some glue; call library code with it", which I suppose can be a trend, but that's been very, very gradual...

I'll disagree....

It's difficult to appreciate changes unless you work with the environment or tools in question. Ask an outsider about the changes in SQL Server over the last ten years and...

If you haven't seen much change in the last decade, maybe you've spent your time stuck at the SSMS console and really haven't taken a look at the software and...

For all those who think that you shouldn't be striving to do a better job (NOTE: I didn't say always going to absolute perfection), I have to ask this: Have...

You want craftsmanship and professionalism? Talk to my boss and convince him. Or better yet talk to our clients and ask them how much they want to pay.

Not everyone...

If there are no bosses, then everybody is a boss. Sounds great, right? Not really. My boss is the person that says no to my coworkers, his bosses and clients...

Get your ham radio license and build an Elecraft K2: http://www.elecraft.com/k2_page.htm (Also Colorado needs more emergency response folks, take a class.)

Take some chef courses and challenge Sean McCown to a...

2014:

Almost all of our clients are on Windows 7 and SQL Server 2008R2. Don't see that changing much.

More OSS in the form of scripting, DVCS and data tools is coming.

Best memories are how many people in this community help each other, especially on line. Some of the crazy MidnightDBA videos helped keep me sane through the year.

Microsoft managed to alienate a lot of developers and independents by pimping a new API every couple of years, abandoning the old ones. The poorly managed shift to Windows 8,...

If business managers invested in security and training, we would have security and training. Until then, they are enjoy their bonuses and wondering what us nerds and geeks are worried...

As a ham radio guy, my taste in gadgets can be on the expensive side, so to keep it sane:

- Parallella Board to play with multi-core processing

- An FPGA or...