The next release of Microsoft SQL Server, codename “Denali”, will be the last release to support OLE DB. OLE DB will be supported for 7 years from launch, the life of Denali support, to allow you a large window of opportunity for changing your applications before the deprecation. This deprecation applies...

The Microsoft SQL Server team has been interacting on a regular basis with developers and users in the form of surveys. If you have 15mins spare and would like to do your bit to help shape the roadmap for SQL Server then please pop over to http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CS45XT9FE/ And… My own simple...

Question: Is Microsoft so focused on Windows Azure that it doesn’t care about helping UK software product authors that have no plans to use it? Short answer:   We absolutely do care about helping software product authors (ISVs) adopt other MS technologies. Check out Microsoft Platform Ready and...

That would be next week… I know for many of our ISVs the following holds true. ISV sells application to customer Customer likes application which runs beautifully Many years pass Customer keeps using the original application which still runs beautifully Which I suspect means that there are a lot of ISV...

In May Microsoft UK (and specifically my group) will be delivering Tech.Days – a week of day long technical events plus evening activities. We will be covering Windows Phone 7, Silverlight, IE 9, Windows Azure Platform and more. I’m working right now on the details of what we will be covering around...

My colleague Keith Burns (top chap with great SQL Server skills – but don’t say I said so) is helping to deliver an event focused on helping UK ISVs understand what it takes to move from Oracle to SQL Server. I would recommend you come along if you currently only target Oracle or primarily target Oracle...

If you are using the (rather cool) geospatial capabilities of SQL Server 2008 then you might want to attend this free 60minute webcast on Unlocking the spatial data stored in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 via the Data Connector ( download from Code Plex ). This web cast will introduce the DataConnector and...

[This is a placeholder – it will be updated after the 25th with all the presentations etc] A big thanks to everyone who attended on the 25th and to my fellow speakers for doing a great job. Ok – they haven't presented yet but I know they will :-) Microsoft Technology Roadmap – Eric Nelson ( blog | twitter...

My team is pulling together a great afternoon on the 25th of this month to help UK ISVs like yourself get up to speed on the latest technologies from Microsoft and explore how they can impact your own product roadmaps. The session is intended for technical decision makers including senior developers...

It is surprisingly easy to visualize your data with Bing Maps – once you have the right knowledge. We have a great training opportunity coming up in November to give you that knowledge. If you are considering a mapping project, this workshop could short cut your learning curve substantially and show...