With new database releases, Microsoft's scalability looks less like a pipe dream

Pie in the Face

Writers of columns such as this are forever looking for that great lead: the anecdote, the twist of logic--something to ensnare the reader's attention immediately. My mission for this Buffer was to pull together observations about the Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Beta 2 Technical Reviewer's Workshop I attended at the end of January. As I drove into a San Mateo shopping center, my formless thoughts were focused on the Redmond giant. It was another day of rain--endless rain, Redmond rain, El Niño rain. Prancing around the puddles, I dropped two quarters into the newspaper vending machine and bolted back to the car. Unfolding the newspaper over the steering wheel, I saw Bill Gates with pie cream all over his face. Who needs a lead?
     As a childhood fan of Soupy Sales, I knew that this was the moment we'd all been waiting for. Gates had finally joined Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and all the other celebrities who had been so honored by a pie in the face from the self-proclaimed "world's leading authority on pie-throwing." Of course, this time it was not Soupy himself who threw the pie, but three Belgians. It was a conspiracy. Gates may not yet appreciate it, but the gesture was surely delivered out the deepest respect.
     These are serious times for Microsoft. The Justice Department, the Java opposition, and all the other external forces matter, but the real molten force still glows from within. Microsoft is not yet fat and happy; it has quite a bit of unfinished business ahead. As Gates himself personifies, this is a company that does not take itself lightly. Its drive is still in overdrive.
     While it certainly intends to protect its turf, Microsoft is not really about margins and monopolies; it takes the software revolution seriously. Barbara Walters asked Gates recently on ABC News' 20/20 if there was any business Microsoft did not want to dominate. He gave a politic reply, but the twinkle in his eye seemed to answer: If customers can use his products to remake banking, telecommunications, education, and all sorts of other industries, why shouldn't they? Unlike its competitors, of course, Microsoft could foster, and dominate, such a revolution through its ready access to millions of Windows, Office, and Visual Basic users.
     A large chunk of Microsoft's unfinished revolution has had to do with the enterprise database. When it pulled its version of SQL Server away from the Sybase pact several years ago, it was clear that Microsoft had miles to go before it could market a true enterprise database solution. While other products took priority, it occasionally seemed like SQL Server was foundering; some wondered whether Microsoft might just buy its way into the enterprise database market. However, given the specific challenge Microsoft faced--providing desktop-to-enterprise scalability for an enormous skill range--the solution had to be homegrown. And it had to fit perfectly within the company's distributed desktop architecture.
     Any questions I had about the company's commitment to the product were erased during the two-day seminar. With the 7.0 release, SQL Server is truly a Microsoft product. Several years of research and development are now bearing fruit. The new release offers a massive rewrite of the engine's core components. The new query processor, engineered by Goetz Graefe, not only drives the engine, but also drives the management tools and performance utilities. The storage engine, designed by product architect Peter Spiro, comes with space allocation utilities that I haven't seen in competing products. Wizards are everywhere, designed for both the novice user and DBA. And as would be expected, the 7.0 release lines up nicely with OLE DB and Microsoft's COM/DCOM world.
     Almost overshadowing SQL Server is the imminent release of Microsoft's OLAP, data mart, and data warehousing offerings. The centerpiece is the "Plato" OLAP Server, but the new wizard-driven Data Transformation Service (DTS) and replication software are just as important. DTS is Microsoft's attempt to solve the difficult task of mixing heterogeneous data sources. Users will certainly find cases where DTS doesn't do the trick, but it is extensible.
     When Microsoft will officially release the products is unknown--with millions of potential customers, the beta cycle looks similar to what Microsoft would do for an Office release. But when they're ready, the products should ignite a slumbering database industry.
     In closing, I'd like to congratulate Justin Kestelyn on his promotion to editor-in-chief of Database Programming & Design. He's been doing a terrific job in selecting and editing articles every month and working with our staff to produce a fine magazine. I've been "kicked upstairs" to the post of editorial director of Database P&D, the Summit Series, and other projects. I'll still be writing and doing other stuff with this fabulous publication, but let's all hail the new EIC!