Dr Richard Hipp, Geek of the Week
by Richard Morris | 04 July 2008
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Simple-Talk's Geek of the Week is Dr Richard Hipp. His code is probably running on your PC, and running completely reliably, for he almost single-handedly wrote SQLite, the most widely deployed SQL Database system in the world. Then he put it in the public domain for all of humanity to benefit from. We sent Richard Morris off to ask this remarkable man why he did it.
DML Trigger Status Alerts
by Randy Volters | 04 July 2008
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1 comment | 
When databases suddenly stop working, it can be for a number of different reasons. Human error plays a large part, of course, and the DBA needs to know what these various humans are up to. DDL triggers can help alert the DBA to unauthorized tampering with a production system, of course, but DDL triggers can't tell you everything. At some point, you will need to implement your own checks. Randy certainly reached that point!
Optimizing the Exchange Environment - Send us your Tips
by Michael Francis | 02 July 2008
| Not rated yet
We are running a monthly Exchange top tips competition where you can win a $50 Amazon voucher.
Message Hygiene in Exchange Server 2007
by William Lefkovics | 03 July 2008
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Around four out of every five email messages are spam. Now that the nuisance threatens to engulf what has become the normal route of business communications worldwide, all the vendors of Mail Servers are taking more active steps to confront the problem. William Lefkovics explains how Microsoft Exchange 2007 is meeting the challenge of the rising tide of spam
From waterfall to Scrum
by red@work | 01 July 2008
| 3 comments 
We need development processes that scale. We want to provide a team framework in which people who are good at writing code, testing software, designing interfaces, and writing technical documentation can flourish and get on with what they are good at. We need to move beyond the 'Single Wringable Neck'. So, we are trying the self-organising Scrum, an 'Agile' process for complex software development.
How to Track Down Deadlocks Using SQL Server 2005 Profiler
by Brad McGehee | 20 June 2008
| 6 comments | 
It is irritating, sometimes alarming, for the user to be confronted by the 'deadlock message' when a deadlock happens. It can be a tiresome business to prevent them from occurring in applications. Fortunately, the profiler can be used to help DBAs identify how deadlocking problems happen, and indicate the best way of minimising the likelihood of their reappearance.
SQL Server Tumbleweed Awards
by Tony Davis | 24 June 2008
| 4 comments 
Several parts of SQL Server look as though they were started and then suddenly abandoned. It reminds me of those, somehow elegiac, "work in progress" signs that one sometimes encounters on a remote back road, where no-one seems sure what work was planned or whether it will ever be completed.
Tim Berners-Lee, Geek of the Week
by Richard Morris | 20 June 2008
| 6 comments | We interview Simple-Talk's Geek of the Week, Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS FREng FRSA. , ranked first in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses, and director of the World Wide Web Consortium. What has he achieved? He invented the World Wide Web, Browsers and Web Servers. You could reasonably argue that he invented Wikis and Blogs too. And he's still inventing things.
SQL Server 2008: new data types and .Net 2 with and without SP1
by András | 20 June 2008
| 3 comments 
If you use the new data types in SQL Server 2008, and your front-end application uses .NET 2, you may hit difficulties. András explains why and how...