A while back I was talking to Bronwen Zande, of Brisbane-based SoulSolutions and GeekGirlBlogs. Anyway, she and her partner John are big fans of Virtual Earth. As it's well publicised that SQL Server 2008 will have new spatial types, including fancy ways of integrating with Virtual Earth, I asked her if they were planning a tour of the ...

Yesterday we had Christine Bishop come to Adelaide. She's the Product Marketing Manager for SQL Server and BI for Microsoft Australia. That makes her handy to know if you're in the SQL space, and we had a nice crowd come along to the user group to meet her. One thing that made this meeting different to the usual is that Christine ...

A few people have asked me what my favourite thing is in SQL Server 2008 ("Katmai"). But my favourite thing isn't actually a feature at all, it's a mindset that Microsoft are taking with it. This mindset is "We will only put features into the CTPs once they are basically complete - including the documentation." And ...

I enjoy TechEd. It's always good fun. Last week was my fourth TechEd, having attended for the past three years, plus in '99. The last three years have seen my involvement increase each time. Last year I proctored with the Hands-On Labs, and this year I presented both a session and an Instructor-Led Lab. I'm a big believer in ...

What a great week for Adelaide having Australian SQL MVPs presenting! Code Camp SA on the weekend of July 7th and 8th features the Gregs (Linwood and Low), and BI expert Darren Gosbell will be coming to speak to the Adelaide SQL Server User Group the following Thursday. He'll be presenting about MDX, which is a topic that a few people have ...

July 7-8 is the date for Code Camp SA. If you're superstitious and seven is your lucky number, then it might be worth pointing out that the date is 7/7/7. It's being organised by ADNUG, UniSA and the ACS, and you can find a full list of speakers here. I won't be there, but the Australian SQL Server User Group world is being well ...

Last week I presented at my user-group about PowerShell and why every DBA should know this. The talk went for just over an hour, and as most of the audience hadn't used PowerShell at all, I started from the top and really pushed concepts like ''You pipe objects not text''. The script can be downloaded from here. So then by the time I got around ...