Buck is re-reading the "Fourth Paradigm" book by Microsoft Research. He is particularly intrigued by data design section. Read Buck’s entire blog post on his Carpe Datum blog. Looking for something to read in the next couple of weeks? Check...

Last week, we announced the availability of the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP. Today we are excited to share that the SQL Server 2008 R2 PowerPivot downloads for Microsoft Excel 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 are now available! To download...

SAP issued a press release today announcing the Microsoft support of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (BPC) version for the Microsoft platform. This relationship gives us another option to meet customer and partner demand for a budgeting...

At the PASS Summit 2009 last week, Ted Kummert announced the soon-to-be-delivered November SQL Server 2008 R2 Community Technology Preview. We’re happy to announce that it is available today for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and it will be available to...

David Dewitt presented today’s keynote. He promised to be detailed and he delivered! The tweets were all about the great info he presented and if his presentation would be on the PASS Summit DVD. David drilled into a level of detail and people were eating...

Tom Casey took the stage and dazzled the crowd with PowerPivot demos. You could hear the mad clicking of keys as the bloggers wrote about what they saw. The expo hall was hopping as attendees chatted with Microsoft reps about the SQL Server technologies...

Today at the PASS 2009 Summit the spotlight was on business intelligence (BI) with a keynote from Tom Casey, general manager, SQL Server BI at Microsoft. Tom noted during his keynote that more than 30 percent of PASS attendees this year noted BI as a...

Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the business platform division at Microsoft, spoke yesterday to a live audience of more than 2,000 attendees at the PASS 2009 Summit in Seattle, Washington. After his keynote he answered questions from attendees on...

From the blogger’s table at PASS: Bob Muglia got the energy going in the room (and the AC/DC helped). He remembered the early days of SQL Server, saying “we’ve come a long way, baby.” After Bob, Ted Kummert took the stage and has been joined by various...

This is a long post, but there is so much happening at PASS! During the opening keynote at the PASS 2009 Summit, Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the Business Platform Division, highlighted Microsoft’s continued commitment to mission critical...

Wayne Snyder kicked things off this morning and now Bob Muglia is on stage taking us through the history of SQL Server and how working together, we will solve business problems. Ted Kummert takes the stage next…. There are about 13 bloggers here during...

Mark your calendar! Now we have Tom Casey, General Manager, SQL Server BI, doing a ‘Twitterview’ on Wednesday, November 4 after his PASS Summit keynote! Tom will answer 10 of your questions via our Twitter account ( MS_SQL_Server ). Just send your questions...

You can ask Ted a question! Senior vice president of the Business Platform Division at Microsoft Corp., Ted Kummert, will answer 10 questions from an audience via Twitter at 10:30 AM PDT tomorrow, November 3. The interview with Ted comes after his keynote...

In October 2008 at our Professional Developer Conference we opened the Community Technology Preview (CTP) for the Windows Azure platform (Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services).  The CTP has been invaluable in terms of shaping many aspects of...

Just announced: Microsoft SQL Server Appreciation Event. Join PASS and Microsoft to eat, drink, and play. Open to all PASS attendees. Let’s celebrate PASS Summit 2009! Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Gameworks , 7th and Pike (Across from...

The Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009 got underway in Las Vegas this morning with keynotes from Steven Ballmer and Jeff Teper kicking off the conference. The SQL Server, ADO.NET Data Services, and Sync Framework teams are all there in force, and had...

The Microsoft SharePoint Conference kicks off next week at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nev. next Monday, October 19 th . Steve Ballmer and Jeff Teper will get things started at 9:00am Pacific, and for those not attending the conference in person...

Today, the SQL Azure Database October CTP (CTP 2) is available and includes the complete feature set that will be delivered at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on November 17th - 20th, 2009 in LA. Please see the latest SQL Azure Database blog...

From Channel 9: Senior Data Platform Technology Specialist Buck Woody stopped by the Channel 9 studio to talk to Michael Rys , Principal Program Manager in SQL Server Engineering Team (Azure), and Liam Cavanagh , Senior Program Manager, about upcoming...

Refer a friend to register for PASS Summit Unite 2009 at $200 off the Full Summit 3-day conference registration, and you and your friend could both win a Dell Mini 10v Netbook ! PASS has three pairs of Dell Minis to give away, and the more people you...

This year’s SQL Server Clinic will offer twice the resources! Top troubleshooters from the CSS SQL Server Escalation team are teaming up with expert SQLCAT design architects. Why pay $400+ an hour for database consultants when you get all-access passes...

First the let’s talk about the great Microsoft breakout sessions at this year’s PASS Summit conference!  Some of the highlights from the 60+ Microsoft sessions include Liam Cavanagh (3 sessions on the upcoming SQL Azure Database solution), Buck Woody...

Should I virtualize SQL Server? What benefits will I see?  What do I need to consider when making this decision?  These are some of the questions we are frequently asked as Virtualization continues to be a hot topic.  The short answer is...

Microsoft’s technology preview of Project “Madison,” Microsoft’s new massively scalable data warehousing solution, is now available to select customers and the feedback we’ve received from participating customers to date has been excellent. Ten customers...

The SQL Server 2008 R2 August Community Technology Preview (CTP) rollout continues today with the availability of the Microsoft SQL Server StreamInsight August CTP. We’re excited to announce that SQL Server StreamInsight is officially shipping as a component...