The Microsoft SQL Year in Review

Posted on December 20, 2025 by way0utwest

Recently, I watched a year in review from Data Exposed, which looked at what’s changed in SQL Server, Azure SQL, and SQL Database in Fabric. This was a lengthy version of the show, just over an hour, though there is a blog to read if you prefer that format. Both look back at the year and what’s changed in the platforms. I’d forgotten about the One SQL aim for Microsoft to allow code to run on-premises, in the cloud, and across the relational and analytical platforms. It’s a good goal, and one I like. That last thing any of us wants to worry about is subtle language changes from one platform to another.

Bob Ward was a guest early in the show, talking about the new version, SQL Server 2025, and his experiences at Ignite. He noted that while there were many new features that were built, the most exciting things for customers were the changes in the Standard and Express editions. If you haven’t been paying attention, the capacity limits are raised in SQL Server 2025, something many of us have wanted for years. The Standard Edition can now use 32 cores and 256GB of RAM. That’s a welcome doubling of memory and a 50% in cores from SQL Server 2022. Express compute limits are the same, but the database size can grow to 50GB, a welcome increase from the 10GB that has been the limit for years.

And no price increase, which is helpful when you might be feeling a budget crunch.

There are quite a few things that have happened in the Data Platform space. When I look at the long list, I see quite a few things I didn’t know about or had forgotten. These aren’t Fabric-specific features, but those that are a part of the SQL space. There are too many things to list, but if you work across Azure SQL and SQL Server, you might take a look to see if there are enhancements that could be useful in your environment.

During much of the last two years, I have felt Microsoft is completely focused on Fabric and not investing elsewhere, but looking at the review, I see that’s not the case. Fabric seems to gather most of the attention from both engineering and marketing, but there are still lots of investments being made in the SQL platform.

Steve Jones

Posted in Editorial | Tagged | Leave a comment

Your Value from a Conference

Posted on December 19, 2025 by way0utwest

The PASS Data Community Summit 2025 was held in Seattle last month, and it was an interesting event for me. I wrote a wrap-up on my blog, but a few things stood out. The event was a little smaller, with over 50% first-time attendees, but seemed to be a bit more vibrant. Perhaps people coming for the first time added something that I hadn’t expected. I was a bit over-committed, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in the public spaces, but things felt a little different the few times I was in the expo hall or the hallway track.

I ran across a Reddit thread on the value of conferences, and it got me thinking. What is the value that you get from attending a conference (or an event). If your employer pays you might feel that you should bring some value back to them when you return. That’s the premise of the thread, and I know there are plenty of people that feel that way. However.

Should you value your time and effort any less?

What if you attend a SQL Saturday or other local event for free? Shouldn’t there be some ROI for you? With that in mind, I’m asking the question of you: what value do you get from attending a conference? For any type, size, shape, topic, etc. conference, let us know what you do go, or would go, or maybe would choose to skip the opportunity.

I’ve attended lots of different events in my career. My perspective varies depending on the event. I’ve attended customer conferences for a vendor, where I want to learn what might be changing, how others use the products, ask if there are solutions to our challenges, or even get the chance to influence the product development people. For local events, it’s networking and the chance to see a session on something I am interested in learning more about or a topic that might be of use in my job. For large industry events, there’s a larger scale, and more choices of topics, so I might get the chance to explore something I know little about or see some great speakers inspire me.

However, I get out what I put into it. If I am passive and just sitting there hoping I learn something from a talk, I’m can be disappointed. That’s an expensive way to learn something. The real value comes when I ask questions of the speaker afterward (or listen to others’ questions). I learn more by discussing the talk with other attendees, or having random conversations about the things others are doing/learning/trying/etc. in the hallways. Engaging others gives me ideas and inspiration I don’t get from a lecture.

The other thing that comes from a conference is a break from work. I try hard not to schedule work things or respond to messages while in sessions. I want to unwind, let my brain change gears, and hopefully get recharged in a different atmosphere. There’s also the chance to visit another city and perhaps see a sight or two. I love Las Vegas for this reason, taking my wife and seeing a show after networking and learning all day. It’s a great break from work.

I think there are good reasons to send people to conferences: learning, getting inspired, recharging, or even as a perk for employees who are working hard the rest of the year.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

Posted in Editorial | Tagged | 2 Comments

A New Word: Etherness

Posted on December 19, 2025 by way0utwest

etherness – n. the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones, all too aware that even though the room is filled with warmth and laughter now, it won’t always be this way – that the coming years will steadily break people away into their own families, or see them pass away one by one, until there comes a time when you’ll look back and try to imagine what it felt like to have everyone together in the same place.

That’s a somewhat bleak look at reality. I think etherness is understandable and natural. Families grow and change, and even if there aren’t children, there is death.

My wife and already have experienced this, as our oldest has a partner and we have to “share” them for holidays. We alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas already, and other family events are becoming more challenging, both because of other family commitments, but also career and life scheduling.

I don’t really dread things changing, and while there is a sadness, I accept it’s a part of life. Things change, and while it would be great if my family kept coming to my house (or me to theirs), I also know the other side of families for children and relatives feels the same way. We can’t all get what we want.

We certainly can’t always get what we want.

Instead I cherish and appreciate what I do have, and the moments I get to spend with family and friends.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Posted in Blog | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Challenge of AI

Posted on December 17, 2025 by way0utwest

In his book, The Coming Wave, the CEO of Microsoft AI laid out the risks of AI tech bluntly. “These tools will only temporarily augment human intelligence. They will make us smarter and more efficient for a time, and will unlock enormous amounts of economic growth, but they are fundamentally labor-replacing,” he wrote. Suleyman advocated for regulatory oversight and other government interventions, such as new taxes on autonomous systems and a universal basic income to prevent a socioeconomic collapse. This book was published before Suleyman joined Microsoft.

Satya Nadella is more optimistic than his new deputy. In an interview at Microsoft headquarters, while sitting next to his human chief of staff, Nadella said that his Copilot assistants wouldn’t replace his human assistant. As his chief of staff sat typing notes of the conversation on her tablet, Nadella acknowledged that AI will cause “hard displacement and changes in labor pools,” including for Microsoft. Judson Althoff, Chief Commercial Officer, said that Nadella was pressuring his team to find ways to use AI to increase revenue without adding headcount.

In 2025, Microsoft has reduced quite a bit of its workforce. Over 9,000 earlier this year, though perhaps there will be some hiring in the future, according to Nadella. Nadella contends that AI could end up delivering more societal benefits than the Industrial Revolution did. “When you create abundance,” Nadella said, “then the question is what one does with that abundance to create more surplus.”

As I discuss AI with different people, I get wildly different opinions. The pace of GenAI model growth across the last two years has led quite a few people to believe that the technology will approach mimicking the average human’s intelligence in just a few years. That’s a scary thought, and it certainly could lead a lot of executives to place a bet on fewer human employees and more digital ones.

However, many more people believe that the GenAI models still need a lot of guidance, and they are best suited for partnerships with humans. That’s good, in a sense. If a smart or talented human can use an AI partner and get a lot done, that means we still need some humans.

Some.

That use of AI by a few talented people might also lead us to a reduction in labor for a lot of organizations. Maybe fewer humans get more done with AI, and it’s possible organizations want to make that trade. It’s easy to think we’ll find things for more humans to do, but computers are incredible levers, and this worries me.

A little.

What I also think is that there is so much work we’d like to get done, but we can’t, at least in the technology space. We don’t have enough people to do the work, so GenAI agents or partners working with humans might let us catch up on the backlogs we have.

Of course, I don’t know that all that backlogged software we went is something we need, if it’s good for the world, and if it will end up putting even more people in the real world out of work.

Lots of challenges ahead. Let me know what you think.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

Posted in Editorial | Tagged , | Leave a comment