Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I just feel like it should be better. Let me show you the niceness of the way that missing indexes are handled in SQL Server 2008. Using AdventureWorks (not AdventureWorks2008) on a SQL Server 2008 install, if I show the Execution Plan from this simple query, I get a nice suggestion. My query... ...

I did this by accident, but turns out it's a really useful feature. I was just trying to zoom in on something using Zoomit, that really useful thing that I use whenever I'm presenting these days. But I didn't have Zoomit running, and so SQL Server Management Studio ran sp_who. And it's not even new. This is an old Query Analyzer ...

Ok, so real database developers don't use the graphical "Design Query in Editor"... yeah, I know. Sure, there's the odd time when you're typing a query and you don't have an Object Explorer (eg, in SSIS) and a moment of weakness sees you hit "Build Query" to save some typing, but in general I encourage people to ...