Excuses Execrating Excel
A bad workman always blames his tools. So does the entire western media, it seems, as poor old Excel gets it in the neck for some appalling calculation errors in economic papers.
Stay Backed Up by Monitoring Your Backup Process
Based on a linked server setup, you can check your SQL Server backups on multiple instances.
Diagnosing Common Database Ails
When a database starts showing signs of an illness, it's up to the DBA to get to the root of the problem, fast. Kat Hicks takes a look at the most common causes of database troubles, free tools that can help, and the misconceptions that get in the way.
Upgrading to 2012
Are many people upgrading to SQL Server 2012? Is it worth the cost for your company for any existing instances? Steve Jones asks the question this week.
Using Regular Expressions to Convert PL/SQL code to T-SQL
When converting Oracle PL/SQL to T-SQL, there are a number of ways to do this, but this article shows us how this can be done with regular expressions in Management Studio.
Comparison of Queries Written in T-SQL and SQL Server MDX
Beginning to learn and comprehend SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) MDX queries can be difficult after one has spent years writing queries in T-SQL. When trying to write SQL Server MDX queries, it's worth considering "How would I write this query in T-SQL?"
Asking for Interview Questions
When someone asks for interview questions on the web, it seems many people are upset. But should they be? Steve Jones points out there are different sides to this.
SQL 2000 DBA Toolkit Part 1
SQL Server 2005 builds some great encryption tools into the product, but what if you are stuck with SQL Server 2000? SQL Server expert Michael Coles brings us the first part of a series along with a free toolkit to manage encryption and keys.
Disaster Recovery in the Enterprise – Paying the Price to Avoid Extra Costs
Data Protection and Disaster Recovery (DR) are IT tasks that seldom get the same level of attention as development… until disaster strikes. Only if planning is adequate can an organisation be resilient in the face of unexpected problems. There are several steps that are needed to achieve an adequate DR process and the ability to restore business operations after a disaster.
The Patch Wild, Wild West
Microsoft might be changing their patching process for applications. This has Steve Jones worried they may move towards an Apple/iOS like model, which would not be good for server systems.
Blogs
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
SSMS 22 still inserting tabs instead of spaces
I’m not trying to start up a debate whether you should use tabs or...
Forums
Cumulative Update 23 - KB5074819 - Database Mail - No longer working.
Hi there, Has anyone else had any trouble with Database Mail in Cumulative Update...
Script Task execution error with HTTP request
I have a script task that tries to execute a HTTP request, which seems...
SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer Edition
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer...
Question of the Day
URL Safe or Not?
If I use BASE4_ENCODE() in SQL Server 2025, is the output URL Safe by default?
See possible answers