Tag: Humor

SQL Server Central has been a great success over the last 25 years. We’ve helped a lot of people improve their careers with the Microsoft Data Platform, primarily SQL Server, but we’ve published articles on other aspects of databases, including other platforms. I wrote a bit about the history of the site last month, with a few stories in various pieces. We even got Brian Knight to contribute a piece on what the site meant to him.

Over the years, we experimented with trying to get an SSIS Central or a SSRS Central off the ground. However, we struggled to find other people who would have been willing to partner with us to provide content and answer questions. Eventually, we gave up, though I wish today we’d have pushed forward with a PostgreSQL Central site a few years back.

However, we’re moving forward with AI Database Central next week. This is an experiment that will look to gather lots of articles and news on how AI technology can be used to work with databases. Our goal is to build a site that showcases some of the ways in which AI works well. To handle the load of producing articles, we’ve got a very modern take.

We’re setting up a Clawdbot system that will read existing articles and questions and then produce its own articles based on the knowledge of what AIs have about database technology. For every article here on SQL Server, we’ll get a series of articles that cover the same topic on Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB to start. We’ll turn the AI agents loose on more platforms over time, but our hope is that this will provide an exhaustive body of knowledge that other data professionals and AI agents can use. We’ll even have an MCP server available.

Of course, we will take submissions, which AI agents will edit and provide feedback. We’re also looking to experiment with submissions of editorial topics and ideas, which the AI agent will then use to produce its own content for you to read.

This will likely not work that well, mostly because it’s April 1 and this is an April Fools joke. It could be possible, couldn’t it? Not likely very good, but it could be fun.

Steve Jones

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

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

A few weeks ago, I was at the Small Data SF 2025 Conference in San Francisco. I attended the inaugural event last year and decided to go back again. It’s a great chance to hear people thinking about data and its impact on the world in a different way, recognizing that building lager and larger systems isn’t always possible. Or a good idea. We might find that smaller systems fit well, especially smaller datasets, which can both serve our purposes and create agility. The manifesto of the conference says that “We champion the power of Small Data and smart AI, believing that less is truly more.” There’s a bit more, but that’s the idea.

The format for the conference is a little different, with 3-5 talks in a row, all on one stage, each about 25 minutes long. These are talks with or without slides, but no live demos, just speaking and expressing a point of view. What I found fun was that each person picked their own music to play as they walked onto stage (or ran/danced in the case of Glauber from Turso). It was a bit of fun, with the DJ letting the music play as the person made their way to the front and were welcomed by the audience. I heard rock, metal, hip hop, and more.

It’s Friday during the week of the PASS Data Community Summit, and I had the chance to deliver part of the keynote on Wednesday. I’ve done this before, and no one has every asked me if I wanted a pick a piece of music, but it got me thinking. What would I pick?

For a fun Friday during the holiday season, think about if you were going to give a presentation. Maybe to your team, maybe other groups in the company, or (for some of you) on a conference stage. What music would you choose to accompany your walk into the bright lights? Imagine you get between 10 and 30 seconds.

Have some fun, and remember this is a professional setting. My first thought was something from the Notorious BIG, but I realized I’d have to walk fast as most of his lyrics wouldn’t be appropriate. I’m not sure, but I lean towards one of these: one, two, three, or four.

Steve Jones

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

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

CosmosDB has been a great data platform in the Azure cloud that helps companies deal with disparate types of data. The CosmosDB APIs include those for MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, and Gremlin. These wire-level protocols let you work in a way that is compatible with those systems for storing data.

That’s coming to SQL Server.

For the last few years the engineers at Microsoft have been working to separate query processing from storage, and they’ve used this to build products like Hyperscale. That work is being added to SQL Server 2024, so that you’ll be able to add a separate storage engine that doesn’t use the same RDBMS/extent/page structure, but instead is optimized to let you store documents, JSON, and other structures. In addition, there will be new query processors that can run queries from your MongoDB, Cassandra, and Gremlin graph clients.

Like CosmosDB, however, you can’t have relational data and say, MongoDB data in the same database. You’ll need a separate database, and at least initially, you won’t be able to make cross-database queries. However, you will be able to store your relational and NoSQL data inside the same instance. This will make life easier for developers, who will be able to use one server for all their data.

Of course, this is an April Fools joke and there are no NoSQL enhancements coming to SQL Server. Not for now. I’m not even sure if SQL Server 2024 is a thing.

Hopefully, you’re dreaming and smiling. Maybe the engineers at Microsoft are as well.

Steve Jones

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