I haven’t been promoting classes for quite a while now. But Kalen has a new one May 2 on SQL Server 2014 you may want to look into. http://www.vconferenceonline.com/event/home.aspx?id=1064
I was simply reading the course description and there are a few things that caught my eye. Licensing is new for the SQL Server tools. This aspect is important for your budgeting constraints simply because they sometimes move features from one version to another. Each version of SQL Server for each release has a different set of supported features. If features that you use today are moved to a more expensive version, then you need to be aware of your future growth path.
I know of a number of companies still operating on SQL Server 2008 standard simply because Microsoft moved a lot of features out of the Standard version when they released SQL Server 2008 R2. The trend continues. However, there are so many more powerful features since 2008 it is difficult to stay on the old platforms.
Two other things Kalen will be covering that I find very important are the features that are being deprecated, and the new features extending capabilities or performance.
Be sure to check out the link to see if attending this course could provide significant value to you today or in the future.
How many releases are you behind in your software? There needs to be a compelling reason to upgrade. So, why haven’t you taking the time to move ahead? Share your reasons here, or by sending an email to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben