Mairead from the Data Dude product team has a post looking for feedback on database diagram usage. If you want to help us build a better product andwold like to comment on our usage then please reply to Mairead's posting
http://blogs.msdn.com/mairead/archive/2007/02/21/do-you-use-database-diagrams.aspx
See how ConfigureSoft used Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals and Team Foundation Server to cut development time in half
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=201031
Microsoft has just announced the release to web of the newest member of the SQL Server family, SQL Server Compact Edtion.
SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition extends the SQL Server Mobile Edition technology by offering a maintenance free, compact embedded database for single-user client applications for all Windows Platforms including Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs, Smart Phones and Desktops that supports in-memory processing. In addition, SQL Server Compact Edition is free to deploy and free to redistribute.
Check Compact Edition out at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/compact/default.mspx
We have just posted a case study on Gulf Coast Seal and how they have been using DataDude, You can find the case study at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=200529
Update... Jeff Lynch has also posted regarding this case stdy, which happens to be about his project. Read his comments here (http://codebetter.com/blogs/jeff.lynch/archive/2007/01/10/Visual-Studio-Team-Edition-for-Database-Professionals_3A00_-Case-Study-Published_2100_.aspx)
Wanted to mention a couple of things today...
Firstly, if you are an MSDN subscriber you may have seen the 2.9GB download for Data Dude. This is the full install with everything you need to run the product standalone. As Cameron points out in his blog if you already own Team Suite and you don't want to download 2.9GB of data then you can just download the 20Mb trail edition and on install it will see that you have a fully licensed version and install as a real product instead of a trial.
On another point, we still want to here from you about the product. If you have feedback on the product, are having any issues or just want to discuss the product with other data dudes then I recommend that you post anything you have to the forums
As promised, it is december 7th and that means that Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals is now available for download....
You can download the trail from HERE
or if you are an MSDN Subscriber just login and you should see the bits available for download from your subscriptions page
The Birth of Data Dude
Just in time for the holidays, I am extremely happy to announce that it is time to celebrate the RTM of Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals
On Friday 1st December 2006 the development team officially announced that Data Dude was done and was being released to manufacture. It should be available for download to MSDN subscribers on December 7th 2006 and generally available for purchase on January 1st 2007.
This release marks the end of the first leg in a very exciting journey to revolutionize the ALM space and finally bring the database into the application lifecycle.
From a team point of view this has been an exciting journey that began in the summer of 2005 when the Team Data product unit was formed to create Data Dude. Since then the team has worked tirelessly to deliver on the promise of managed database change and integration of the database into the development lifecycle. The team started coding in fall of 2005 and used the agile SCRUM methodology to ensure that they could have a release done in just 1 year.
Since the announcement in May 2006 that Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals would be releasing by the end of 2006, the team has released 7 CTP’s (Community Technology Previews) on approximately a 6 week schedule, 5 of which have been publically available. The team worked tirelessly to take all of the feedback from each of these CTP releases and role that feedback into the product. So if you sent any feedback to the team, thank you, and know that you too had a hand in shaping this great product.
The whole team is incredibly excited about this release and I personally want to thank everyone for all the hard work they have put in over the last year to make this product a reality.
It’s now time to relax for a bit over the holidays and then back in the New Year to start work on Data Dude V2…
I am at TechED: IT Forum in Barcelona all week and on Tuesday morning 9:30am we announced that DataDude would RTM on November 30th 2006. We also announced the availability of the new MSF Framework guidance for Agile and CMMI processes that now include process guidance for Database Developers and DBAs and integrate them into the overall lifecycle. You can download the process guidance today from http://msdn.microsoft.com/msf
Tonight we are hosting a party in Barcelona to celebrate the RTM announcement and launch of process guidance for database professionals at Shoko. It should be a fun night and I will be taking my camera to record the festivities and I will be sure to post some photos
Well, I have been in Barcelona since Monday afternoon and I recorded a video interview yesterday with the Virtual Side team. You can see the video at http://www.mseventseurope.com/TechEd/06/pre/live/videoITF14.aspx?id=3#an3.
In response to a post I just read (http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson/archive/2006/10/18/VSTS4DBP_3A00_-CTP6-is-live.aspx) from Jamie Thomson I thought I should post a little more information regarding the teams decision to support SQL Server Express.
As Jamie points out, Gert Drapers post announcing CTP 6 did state that, moving forward, Data Dude would no longer use or support SQL Server Express as its underlying database. Jamie's concerns were around the fact that this might imply an additional cost as you are now required to have SQL Server Developer installed.
To clear this up, the decision was made to stop using SQL Express and to move to SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition in order to support the full range of enterprise features supported by SQL Server Enterprise (SQL Server Developer is essentially Enterprise Edition licensed only to be use for development and testing). SQL Server Express is a desktop database and does not support all the Enterprise functionality supported by Developer Edition. By using the Developer Edition rather than Express the team is able to supply support for all the functionality of SQL Server without requiring you to install another database to develop enterprise level functionality
There will be no charge for developer edition and it will ship in the box with every copy of Data Dude so this will not affect the cost of using DataDude.
Just read a great blog post from Jeff Lynch who is using DataDude on a daily basis in his company. Take a look at
http://codebetter.com/blogs/jeff.lynch/archive/2006/10/17/Visual-Studio-Team-Edition-for-Database-Professionals.aspx to read up on his experiences
Recently, while I was at SD Best Practices I recorded a Pod Cast for the Agile Journal (www.agilejournal.com)
You can listen to the podcast at http://www.agilejournal.com/content/view/96/88888889/
Well, I have put the last two events behind me and I am back planning Data Dudes next public appearences....
SD Best Practices was a great event and we then hit the road and travelled Phoenix for the Gartner Application Development Summit. This was a great event, and not just because it was held in a resort and spa, and we all had a great time and saw some very interesting sessions on ALM.
Now I am back in the office and looking for where we will be in November and December. Looks like it will be a busy two months.
So far Data Dude will be appearing at :
Dev Connections in Las Vegas (http://www.devconnections.com) Nov 6-9
Tech ED: Developers (http://www.mseventseurope.com/TechEd/06/pre/defaultdev.aspx) Nov 6-10
Tech ED: IT Forum (http://www.mseventseurope.com/TechEd/06/pre/defaultitf.aspx) Nov 13-17
PASS Community Summit (http://www.sqlpass.org/events/summit06/) Nov 14-17
As well as all of these you will be able to see some of the product group at various MSDN events around the US, so if you live in any of the cities below and are interested in learning more about DataDude I would suggest clicking the appropriate URL or talking to your local Microsoft representative to see if you can come along