This is a short post to shareexciting news: Jooma! 2.5, which shipped earlier this week, now has support for SQL Server! Of course, this release contains lots more goodies, but the addition of a database abstraction layer that supports multiple databases...

The first beta release of the SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux is available for download! As announced in October , the “Multiplatform Team” (a.k.a. the “MPlat Team”) has released a preview version of a driver that will provide...

In this morning’s keynote address at the Professional Association of SQL Server (PASS) Summit 2011 , Quentin Clark (Corporate Vice President at Microsoft) announced that a preview of the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux will soon be widely...

Last week I had the good fortune of hearing Rasmus Lerdorf speak at the Seattle PHP Meetup . His talks was excellent – it was sprinkled with history, personal stories, tips, best practices, and insights into what he’s thinking about for the...

A Community Technology Preview (a beta release) of v3.0 of the SQL Server Drivers for PHP was released today (see the announcement on the team blog ). You can download it here: Download v3.0 of the SQL Server Drivers for PHP . In this release, there are...

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you have probably noticed I haven’t been publishing much lately. That is not to say, however, that I haven’t been writing . I have. I’ve been working with a colleague ( Larry Franks ) to start...

At last month’s SQL Server JumpIn! Camp , one of the SQL Server features that generated some excitement among the participants was SQL Server’s ability to return result sets as XML. I felt a bit foolish for not having investigated this feature...

I came across lots of good links this week, but I have to say that I’m most excited about the first two (yes, I know, long overdue). Lot’s of other good reading too…everything from tips for running PHP in Windows Azure to the top 10...

Jonathan Guerin , the Program Manager for the SQL Server Driver for PHP, just posted a request for feature feedback on the team blog . I want to make sure that his request gets in front of lots of eyes, so I’m re-posting his request here (below...

On the heels of today’s announcement at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference of the availability of SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP3 , the SQL Server Migration Assistant Team announced the release of the SQL Server Migration...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that showed how to improve the performance of PHP applications on Windows by using the IIS output caching module. Using the output caching module can have significant positive impact on application performance since pages...

I wish I could attribute my recent lapse in reading to enjoying more time outside in a beautiful, sunny Seattle summer. But alas, summer hasn’t really arrived yet, and work hasn’t slowed down (the pace seems to have picked up, actually). So...

As I arrived yesterday for day 4 (the last day) of the SQL Server JumpIn! Camp , one participant said to me,“I’m starting to feel worn down.” I think that was the general sentiment of everyone that was there…and with good reason...

I recently had a chance to catch up via e-mail with Ben Waine , winner of the 2011 PHP on Azure contest . The announcement of his victory was actually made at the Dutch PHP Conference in May, but we’ve both been extremely busy since then, so exchanging...

Next week, Microsoft will host its second SQL Server JumpIn! Camp , and I’m very excited to be a participant (take a look at the list (below) of PHP applications and frameworks that will be represented and you will understand why!). I was fortunate...

In this article, I’ll show you how to improve the performance of PHP applications on Windows/IIS by covering the What, When, and How of using the IIS Output Caching module. As background reading (or for the condensed version of my post), I suggest...

For me, the highlight in this week’s list are the first two. Both the SQLSRV and PDO_SQLSRV drivers are now in PECL. For some, that may not be a big deal, but it’s something I’ve been pushing for a long time. I see it as one more (small...

Based on my reading list this week, you can infer that I was either very busy with other work or that I was goofing off more than I should have. Since my manager may be reading this, I’ll go with “very busy”. Highlights include Ben Waine...

The Interoperability Team at Microsoft announced today that the production-ready 3.0 version of the Windows Azure SDK is now available. You can read about the details of the release here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/interoperability/archive/2011/05/26/new...

A colleague recently asked me if I knew anything about consuming OData from a Java deployment in Windows Azure. My answer at the time was “no”, but with a quick pointer to http://code.google.com/p/odata4j/ I know the answer would soon change...

Working on posts for next week didn’t prevent me from doing my weekly reading. Lot’s of interesting news related to Microsoft interoperability with open source technologies, as well as good stuff from this week’s TechEd conference in...

I happen to think that Friday the 13th is a lucky day (note that I’m knocking on wood as I write that). In any case, once again, lots of good reading this week. Actually, this list is made up of links I’ve collected over the past two weeks...

Several weeks ago (more than I’m willing to admit) Jason Gilmore asked approached me on Twitter and asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing his latest book, Easy PHP Websites with the Zend Framework . I was familiar with Jason’s publications...

I spent some time last week investigating a puzzling issue raised in the SQL Server Driver for PHP forums: Need help with PDO::quote() and PDOStatement::bindValue and PDO::execute using new SQLSRVR 2.0 driver . At the heart of the issue was this question...

I’m partial to writing, so one of the highlights in this week’s list is the podcast Elizabeth Naramore’s 2010 DPC presentation on technical writing. Other highlights are Andrew Burst’s look at NoSQL and the Azure platform and my...