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March 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Fallen Brother

TAGS: Database News

At PASS last fall I had the opportunity to meet one of the Apress editors, James Huddleston. I spent quite a bit of time talking to him about a number of topics and we even kicked around some book ideas. I was really looking forward to working with him in the future because he was just such an interesting guy.

I found out last week that he pass away suddenly, and I'd like to extend my sincerest condolences to his family.

Here's the release I got from Apress:

It’s with great sadness that Apress learned one of their own, editor James Huddleston, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, February 25, leaving his partner Judith, and a young family. He will be missed. He took pride in his work as an editor, but equally gratifying was his work as a classicist. His translations, from the original Greek, of Homer’s Odyssey and Hesiod’s Shield of Herakles can be found on The Chicago Homer: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/.

You know, it's always saddened me that when someone dies, their live is summed up in just a couple sentences. Is it really possible to do that? Well, it's what we've got though, so I guess we have to live with it. The other thing that gets to me is just the injustice of it all. Here you've got a hard-working family man who actually contributed something to society, and he gets a couple lines. Then you've got Anna Nicole who got tons of press on everything from her hairdresser to the guy who designed her coffin lid. Whatever.

Take care James.

Posted by Sean McCown on March 12, 2007 11:08 AM

March 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

My Confession

TAGS: Database News

OK, I'll admit right up front that this blog isn't really about DBs at all. I just wanted to tell a quick story.

About 12yrs ago or so now, I was working in a call center. There were hundreds of us in the building spanning several floors, and prob a good couple hundred of us on a single floor. I got into a argument with a couple guys one day on the validity of learning keyboard shortcuts in lieu of the mouse. I felt that everyone should learn keyboard shortcuts, and they didn't see any reason why it would ever be necessary.

Well, a couple days later I went through the entire floor and stole all the mouse balls. Every single one. There wasn't a mouse ball anywhere on the entire floor.

The next day, I sat back and watched as an entire floor of tech support people were rendered completely helpless because they never bothered learning the simplest of keyboard shortcuts. The emails started rolling in... whoever took the mouse balls, it's very funny. Now bring them back....etc... they started out very nice and all, but then got very caustic. About 4hrs into the day they started distributing cheat sheets for keyboard shortcuts to everyone since nobody could really even open their email without their mouse. So things were a little slow for a day or so, but then people started getting the hang of it, and actually didn't mind so much. About a week or so later they were able to get the mice up and running again, but I noticed that some guys still used the keyboard a lot... including the 2 guys that started this whole thing. They found how much easier it was to keep your hands in one place.

Now, I didn't really start that whole thing with the intention of actually teaching anyone a lesson, but I think it worked out well enough. And I'm only bringing this up now because I found that sack of mouse balls in my garage a while back and it made me giggle for a few minutes.

Oddly enough though, I judge a lot of apps these days by how many keyboard shortcuts they put in. Do you want my hands to be productive, or moving back and forth all day?

Anyway, thought you guys might like that story.

And oddly enough, that's the first time I've ever told anyone that story.

Posted by Sean McCown on March 7, 2007 07:53 AM

March 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

A Huge Difference

TAGS: General Database

DBAs is plural. DBA's is possessive. Got it?

Posted by Sean McCown on March 6, 2007 12:20 PM

March 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Red-Gate Answers Back

TAGS: SQL Server

Red-Gate has answered the blog and all the hype it created earlier this week. A comment was posted to the original blog, and I'm going to just copy it here, partially to make sure that everyone sees it, and partially because I'm really bad about going in to approve comments.

Here's the message:

The clause in the license agreement referred to in these posts is designed to prevent the use of a single license on multiple machines by continually transferring the license between machines. We can see, however, that the wording of the license can be interpreted in a different, more sinister way. It was never intended to stop people from transferring licenses in the case of upgrades, replacement of old equipment, reorganization, or any other legitimate reason, and we apologize if customers or prospective customers interpreted it this way.

I believe that any customer who does business with Red Gate Software knows that we operate in an atmosphere of trust and respect. We are working now on changing our licensing terms to make our policies clear. In the meantime, if anybody is concerned about this issue, please contact me directly at nick.warren@red-gate.com.

Nick Warren
Head of Customer Support, Red Gate Software

I'm glad to see them step up to the plate and try to straighten this out right away, and frankly I'm not surprised. I've always known Red-Gate to go out of their way for their customers. That's really why I was so shocked to see that in their license.

Now above, Nick said that he said that he can see how that wording could be used for evil, and while I agree, I just don't see how it could be taken any other way. There's just not much wiggle room in there for interpreting it any other way.

However, guys, when you get it changed, let me know and I'll post it here so everyone knows it. And make sure you put some language in there stating that the changes are retroactive so that those who already have licenses are covered.

Posted by Sean McCown on March 1, 2007 11:18 AM