Kline spoke with Computerworld Wednesday about issues such as how PASS members are feeling about SQL Server 2005 a year after its launch. Excerpts from that interview follow.
Microsoft won't support versions of SQL Server prior to the 2005 release on Windows Vista. In fact, Vista users will need to upgrade to the Service Pack 2 release of SQL Server 2005. Are users feeling pressured by Microsoft to upgrade? I think it is an issue. I'm hearing some grumbling about it, and it might actually slow down the adoption of Vista itself. People are telling me they don't want to give up their existing database just for a new operating system. There's not enough in Vista to force them to do that.
From your conversations with PASS members, what percentage have upgraded to SQL Server 2005? There are many shops with one or two instances of SQL Server 2005 running. I don't consider that a strong commitment. Oracle DBAs usually only have to support one to three instances. Most SQL Server DBAs support a dozen instances of the database, or more. So in measuring serious uptake -- that is, DBAs of whom half or more of their boxes are [running] SQL Server 2005 -- I'd say it's about 20% or so. That's higher in the enterprises, as well as smaller shops that are heavy users of SQL Server Analytical Services. Those users are the ones upgrading the fastest across the board.
What features are users still looking for Microsoft to add? There is a widespread desire for better tools. SQL Server 2005 [has] a whole new interface called SQL Server Management Studio. In some ways, it's a step back. There are a lot of new and neat features, but you hear a lot of complaints about what it doesn't do. For example, SQL Server made its name going back to Version 7.0 with its GUI interface and not forcing DBAs to learn all of this SQL code. With 2005, new features like database mirroring or partitioning have to be addressed in code.
Visual Studio has long had a feature called Intellisense, which is like an auto-complete feature in Word. SQL Server users have been begging for something similar for eons. It was in the betas for Management Studio at one point, but Microsoft pulled it out.
Compliance is another huge issue. In the old days, people needed to know who had changed data. Now, many shops need to know who has looked at data. That capability is hard to build in without building in a lot of overhead. But people are looking to Microsoft for an answer.
There is also pain around change management. That isn't a big deal if you're an Oracle DBA with just one or two servers, but if you're a SQL Server DBA with 24 servers to patch, it can be a real pain in the rear. Right now, the answers mostly come from other Microsoft products, like Systems Management Server. But that doesn't soothe a lot of DBAs because they don't necessarily want to hand this [issue] off to another team.
Microsoft is expected to release SP2 of SQL Server 2005 early next year after Vista and Office 2007 ship. It ties in with collaboration features, especially in Office. What impact will there be on SQL Server DBAs? After a certain point, adding another spell checker or template doesn't change Office much. But SQL Server's tie-ins with SharePoint and Excel will help people make more sense of data and turn it into actionable information. Most DBAs are still assessing [SP2]. They don't know what work and how much is going to be involved for them.
Microsoft has made moves to increase compatibility with open-source technologies, such as the LAMP stack. How much interest do you see among users in mixing and matching? In the circles I run in, the honeymoon is over with MySQL. There is a strong feeling that open source is far from free, that the right people can be hard to find and that it's better to stick with the Windows stack. In applications that might have hosted MySQL in the past, I see it being supplanted by SQL Server Express.
Paul Flessner, the senior vice president who oversees development of SQL Server, is stepping down from that job at the end of the year, although he'll still work at Microsoft part-time. What does that mean for users? Paul is a tremendous champion of SQL Server. He brought a lot to the table in terms of understanding that data is not this abstract thing that companies have, it's an actual asset that can be improved and that needs to be available and accessible. Flessner had a progressive mindset in believing that data needs to permeate the entire company to enable better decision-making. He has helped to deliver tools to do that. In terms of his replacement, Ted Kummert, by all accounts he has a high reputation and skill set.