Well, what can I say – it’s been a long, interesting and busy year. Certainly, a lot of things have changed since the last time I made a post:

·         What started off as a financial crisis in one part of the mortgage market in the US has now become a world-wide economic crisis, impacting virtually everyone in every sphere of economic activity.

·         We have had major political developments across the world, not the least of which is the election of a new President-to-be in the US.

·         Closer to home in our own field, at PDC 2008, Microsoft unveiled the Azure Services Platform  – a major push into the world of Software + Services that is unrivaled in the industry for its breadth and depth. While still in its early days, this marks the beginning of a transformation that promises to impact virtually every product the company sells and indeed the entire software industry in a fundamental way.

In the SQL Server team, we have also had a very busy and productive year. We have continued to make strong progress on our vision of the Complete Data Platform. We released SQL Server 2008 which represents a big step forward in our mission to provide a platform for all data, across the entire life-cycle from birth to archive.  We launched the product in events all across the world, including here in China at TechEd 2008 in November in Beijing, where Ted Kummert, VP for SQL Server, launched the product during his keynote address. The response from across the industry – customers, partners, press and analysts from across the world – has been extremely positive and we look forward to strong market momentum in the years ahead. Having been intimately involved in the planning of SQL Server 2008, it’s personally extremely gratifying to see this strong validation of our core vision and value proposition, as well as of the quality of the implementation.

Here in SQL China R&D, we have also had a busy year. Much of it has been heads-down work in doing our part in shipping SQL Server 2008 and other Data Platform components. The team is now in the thick of planning the work for the next releases of SQL Server. In addition to our R&D work, we have also been working hard to connect with our local China customers and partners, through a variety of channels: via our SQL Server Chinese Language Forum; via events such as TechEd where the team presented several talks and hosted the first-ever Ask the Experts session on SQL Server in China; by engaging with MVPs, customers, partners etc. You can read more about the work of the team in the words of team members themselves at our SQL CRD Team Blog (in Chinese).  

Building a world-class development team for a complex systems-level product such as SQL Server is a challenging process that takes time and patience. However, I am extremely pleased with the progress we are making towards this goal as we execute on a number of fronts in a systematic and methodical manner. I look forward to sharing more of our experiences and learning with you as we make progress in this journey.

Until next time – 再见!

孙博凯