The SSWUG.ORG vConference – Last Full Week to Register!
SQL Server, BI, .NET and SharePoint – amazing speakers and content.
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Featured Article(s)
SQL Server and SharePoint – The More You Know, the Better Off You Are
IT dependencies on Microsoft technologies are becoming more and more pronounced — and the proliferation of Microsoft SharePoint is one reason for this. This article discusses what SQL Server DBAs should know about SharePoint administration, and why.
Review: HyperBac – A Game Changer?
HyperBac is taking a new, fresh approach to disk space management – find out if this tool is something you need to take a closer look at for your own servers.
Software Licensing Follow-Up
I wanted to share a couple of emails from people responding to the software licensing editorial from a few days ago – good information and insight…
Toby: "I just visited with a new client last night about a new ERP system to replace their current. They are currently using [The Vendor], which is a pure online based ERP solution. After going through the pro’s and con’s with them, I ask how their annual maintenance works. They said it isn’t really a maintenance but rather they have to pay so much each year for each user. This told me they really didn’t know how the licensing worked. I then asked if they owned their data, which is stored by [The Vendor] somewhere in California, and what would happen if they stopped paying the annual fee. I also asked if they were to switch to an in-house ERP system, if they would have to “buy” their own data from [The Vendor] or if [The Vendor] would provide us with it.
This is a smaller company with a staff of 12, but they are growing rapidly. They were sold on a solution that allowed access to their information from any internet capable connection, and wouldn’t have to worry about an in-house system or need the IT assistance on staff. I think that was the big sale, and anything after was just a haze."
Neal: "I got burned once by one such company who has a shady lic agreement. They advertised that when you spend a fortune to buy their product, you get 1 year free upgrades. Sounds good, right? Well, there’s a catch that wasn’t exposed. There are no patches, just upgrades. So if in that year’s time, you find bugs, you just get the upgrade, and the upgrade has some new features, not yet tried and true.
If you haven’t guessed what happened next, the new version had bugs, and I had to pay for another year of upgrades to get the upgrade that had the fix. I was furious. I’m a small business, I just can’t drop a thousand here and there to get software that works. After emailing back and forth they wouldn’t budge at all about giving me a fix."
Moral to the stories: due diligence – it’s not just for investments.
SQL Server Video Show
[Watch] SelectViews: The show today features experts in all sorts of great technologies: Tim Heuer, Lynn Langit and Thomas LaRock are here. They talk about what drives them, what they see in the field and a whole lot more.
Also Available:
[Watch] Brian Knight, Matt Masson and Shannon Bray.
[Watch] Donald Farmer, Jeremy Lowell and Ben Hoelting.
[Watch] Chris Shaw, Daniel Galant, Rachel Appel and Rebecca Isserman
Visit the SSWUG.ORG Career Center
Post jobs, review jobs, post your resume – it’s all here.
Featured White Paper(s)
Protecting Microsoft SQL in Physical and Virtual Environments
If you are involved with managing Microsoft SQL Server applications, you’ll want to download this paper to learn: – The pri… (read more)