Voice of the DBA

Tag: Microsoft

  • Does Connect Work?

    Sometimes I wonder if the Connect bug reporting system is really working.
    Sometimes I wonder if the Connect bug reporting system is really working.

    I had a brief conversation on Twitter about the Microsoft Connect bug reporting system, and received the tweet pictured above. It notes: “I like how you used ‘Connect works’ in that sentence. Great work of fiction.” That made me laugh because it does sometimes seem that Connect doesn’t work all that well for those of us that use it.

    Connect was supposed to be a place where users could report bugs and make suggestions. Some people file a lot of bugs and suggestions, though more than a few seem slightly silly. Others file what appear to be support requests, and I’ve had a number of documentation notes. There are even Connect items filed on Connect itself, though I can’t understand why this particular one is “postponed”. There are some items that have been open for years, even with hundreds of votes.

    The Connect system is supposed to feed directly to product groups and there are more than a few times I’ve received feedback through the system from developers I know personally that provide comments. I know developers are seeing the items, but there appear to be a few times of year when the SQL Server group mass closes lots of Connect items, often without any feedback. The twitter conversation I had above included one of these items.

    I remember being excited when Connect was introduced, thinking this would be a good way to get feedback to the product groups, and hopefully influence the managers to prioritize some of the common requests. However that excitement was tempered with the idea that so many items would be submitted, and it would be hard to triage and rank them. Indeed, I rarely find something in the searches I make before submitting, even I’ll have submissions closed as duplicate.  The number of items submitted is so high, it’s hard to even comprehend how any group works with the submissions.

    With the state of Connect, the lack of feedback, and the mass closures, I’m not sure how well Connect is working these days. However it’s not all bad; I did submit one item that received enough votes to actually make a change in MS policy. Outside of that, I think @SirSQL’s statement might be closer to the truth than I would hope.

    Steve Jones

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  • The Microsoft Sideshow

    Has Microsoft been a sideshow? I don't think so, but they haven't been well led.
    Has Microsoft been a sideshow? I don’t think so, but they haven’t been well led.

    Last year I read a piece in Vanity Fair that talked about Microsoft and how the company has appeared to stagnate somewhat over the last decade. As a stockholder, I’ve been a little disappointed in Microsoft’s performance, especially as I’ve seen many other technology companies grow rapidly in that time. The performance has been more suited to some of the stodgier industrial companies than a high tech offering.

    There was a time when Microsoft courted developers, and created an excitement that resulted in many individuals and companies writing new applications for the Windows platform and caused an explosion of growth, not just for Microsoft, but for everyone in the ecosystem. The last six or seven years it seems Apple has taken over that crown with the excitement generated by iOS. Even as Microsoft made a fantastic update to its core OS with the lean and fast Windows 7, and even as SQL Server has grown to become a platform that can power almost any application in the world.

    Overall, however, I think Microsoft has become more of a business than an innovator. There is an incredible focus on business and sales first, and awesome technology second. I don’t think leadership is inspiring or even leading the company well. I feel that there is a lack of focus across the business, with such a disparate set of products and efforts, that the overall view of one of many independent groups vying for resources and lacking a coherent vision of where the company is headed. That results in a lot of products that don’t seem to integrate well, at least without lots of patches.

    Microsoft isn’t doing badly, however, as they just posted record revenues. Even better for us data professionals is the fact that SQL Server revenue was up 16%, which shows the product is popular, solid, and selling well. I expect we’ll continue to see lots of advancement in the features we can use in future versions. Now if they’d just get rid of the sideshow of “R2” naming….

    Steve Jones

  • Renewed

    I received notice that my MVP was renewed today, making this my sixth award. Honored to be recognized by Microsoft again.

  • Feedback is Encouraged

    Most of us have complaints and criticisms of the software we use, including SQL Server. We see the failings of the software, the places where it forces us to work harder than we’d expect to work to accomplish a task. That’s expected, since the design of any piece of software, from Notepad to SQL Server, involves design decisions that are geared to solve some problems, not all problems.

    As a side note, this is one of the places where third party tools can improve the operation of software that allows plug ins. Small companies often build utilities that solve specific problems, and if you are irritated by something in SQL Server, consider looking at third party tools. My employer, Red Gate software makes software designed to make the DBA or developers’ job easier, but there are some great tools out there from execution plan explorers to reporting add ins for SQL Server.

    However Microsoft does try to improve SQL Server regularly. This week I saw Chris Webb note that the SSAS team is looking for feedback. In the past we’ve run various surveys at SQLServerCentral for Microsot and as an MVP, I’ve noted that more and more of the specialized groups working ont he SQL Server platform are sending out surveys about their particular features. I’ve seen Microsoft ask for feedback on how the platform is working for you.

    Change doesn’t always occur as fast as we’d like, and there have been no shortage of issues with the Connect system, but I have seen it work well in a number of cases. I do think Microsoft is listening, and I appreciate that. However I also realize that my feedback is just an opinion, not a vote in what gets implemented in the next version of SQL Server.

    I encourage you to give feedback when you get the chance. Your particular suggestion or bug might not seem important, but if enough customers submit the same feedback, I’m sure it will get implemented in the platform.