SQL Heroes : international entries

Is everyone a winner?

reedme — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:25:47 GMT

Without getting into the philosophical question for the ages “Is everyone a winner?”, the question came up about Finalists® over the weekend. Because we had to kick a number of entries that didn’t meet the simple rules outlined in the Official Contest Rules®, we have fewer than 15 qualified entries. This means that everybody blogged about so far is a Finalist®.

They haven’t won any prizes, yet, since the SQL Rangers have just started picking through the code with their Fine-Toothed Combs®. After all, the suspense will remain in place until morale improves (or until SQL PASS 2008) whichever comes first. Heh.

To summarize, here’s the list of SQL Heroes 2008 Contest Finalists:

SQL Hero(es)	Project
Ignat Andrei	http://www.codeplex.com/CDCHelper/
Hou Jacky	http://www.codeplex.com/hashByArrayLink
Robert Hartskeerl	http://www.codeplex.com/sqlmonitoring
Gorm Braarvig	http://www.codeplex.com/SqlClrMeasureTime
Daniel Gould	http://www.codeplex.com/SSMSAllocation
Greg Galloway (with Darren Gosbell and John Welch)	http://www.codeplex.com/bidshelper
Jason Massie	http://www.codeplex.com/QPee
John Calvin Welch	http://www.codeplex.com/ssisUnit
Jonathan Matthew Kehayias	http://www.codeplex.com/ExtendedEventManager/

Five of those projects are expected to win a Windows Home Server® very much like the one that sits quietly next to the TiVo and Xbox 360 underneath my LCD TV.

Yes, I’ve actually used the Home Server restore-from-backup feature to recover accidentally deleted Files of Great Importance® and thereby saving my marriage. Yes, the Home Server is quieter than the Xbox 360 when the DVD is spinning. (I have one of the older Elites before they got the quiet new optical drives that come with the new Xbox 360s.)

Don’t forget to vote! SQL Heroes 2008 Community Finalists Survey

And in this corner... we have Allocation SQL Server Management Studio Add-in

reedme — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:31:36 GMT

Weighing in as a finalist in the SQL Heroes competition, we have “Allocation SQL Server Management Studio Add-in”!!

Project URL: http://www.codeplex.com/SSMSAllocation
SQL Hero: Daniel Gould from the UK.
Personal Website: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/danny/Default.aspx

A big thanks to Daniel, on behalf of the world and the SQL Server community, for spending his own time to create this cool entry!! Check it out and get ready to vote on your favorite entry when we put up the survey.

And in this corner... we have SQL CLR Measure Time

reedme — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:19:56 GMT

Weighing in as a finalist in the SQL Heroes competition, we have “SQL CLR Measure Time”!!

Project URL: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlClrMeasureTime
SQL Hero: Gorm Braarvig from the Norway.
Personal Website: http://gorm-braarvig.blogspot.com/

A big thanks to Gorm, on behalf of the world and the SQL Server community, for spending his own time to create this cool entry!! Check it out and get ready to vote on your favorite entry when we put up the survey.

And in this corner... we have SqlMonitoring Tool.

reedme — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:25:53 GMT

Weighing in as a finalist in the SQL Heroes competition, we have “SqlMonitoring Tool”!!

Project URL: http://www.codeplex.com/sqlmonitoring
SQL Hero: Robert Hartskeerl from the Netherlands.
Personal Website: none specified

A big thanks to Robert, on behalf of the world and the SQL Server community, for spending his own time to create this cool entry!! Check it out and get ready to vote on your favorite entry when we put up the survey.

And in this corner… we have “a hash implement by basic array and link list in C#”

reedme — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 01:37:48 GMT

Weighing in as a finalist in the SQL Heroes competition, we have “a hash implement by basic array and link list in C#”!! (I’m tempted to make an acronym of that, but I’m not sure that it would help.)

Project URL: http://www.codeplex.com/hashByArrayLink
SQL Hero: Hou Jacky (aka 侯建宇) from Beijing, China.
Personal Website: none specified

A big thanks to Hou, on behalf of the world and the SQL Server community, for spending his own time to create this cool entry!! Check it out and get ready to vote on your favorite entry when we put up the survey.

And in this corner... we have CDCHelper!

reedme — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:03:00 GMT

Weighing in as a finalist in the SQL Heroes competition, we have CDCHelper!!

Project URL: http://www.codeplex.com/CDCHelper/
SQL Hero: Ignat Andrei from Bucharest (Romania)
Personal Website: http://serviciipeweb.ro/iafblog

For those of you keeping score, I did say that I would blog them in alphabetical order by country and hero name, and although I know Bucharest isn't a country per se, that's what Ignat put in the Country field of the entry form, so I'm sticking with it. (Knowing at least one other Romanian personally, I'm told Bucharest is like a whole 'nother country, even to other Romanians, if you'll pardon the humor.)

A big thanks to Ignat, on behalf of the world and the SQL Server community, for spending his own time to create this cool entry!! Check it out and get ready to vote on your favorite entry when we put up the survey.

There are even SQL Heroes in Romania!

reedme — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:16:34 GMT

One of the many great things about this job is getting to meet really cool people. Take Cristian, for example. He's an independent consultant, a SQL Server MVP and an instructor who's out there every day teaching people how to better use our products to get their jobs done.

[Cristian says,] I’ve been asked on first of April if the SQL Hero contest is real or not. Just because the guy that asked me saw a post on a blog that day it doesn't mean that it's a joke. It is as serious as it can be. Cristian's Blog : SQL Hero - David Reed Interview

For those of you who don't know what it takes to become an MVP or even what a Microsoft MVP is, I can tell you that the bar is very high. In many ways, we treat the MVPs' reactions to things as the pulse of the community at large.

We rely very heavily on our MVPs, every one of them, to keep us focused on what's best for our customers and to support their efforts to evangelize our products and educate our customers. The SQL Server MVPs and SQL Server All Stars are first among equals in the ranks of our SQL Heroes.

I'm glad that he asked me to clarify a few things before rumors could proliferate, but I'm very honored that he posted some of my rambling answers to his blog to dispel the April Fools' myth.

Thanks, Cristian!

Can SQL Heroes around the world play, too?

reedme — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:49:57 GMT

Since I've gotten the question more than once, I'll answer it here and then point y'all back to the Official Contest Rules™. See section 3.0 which is entitled "Can you enter?"

The simple answer is: Yes.

Unless, of course, you work for Bill (like I do) or live in a couple of countries that are off-limits for legal reasons, etc. See the Official Contest Rules™ for more details.

Since that Yes seems a little out of context, here's the recurring question that it pertains to: "Is the SQL Heroes 2008 contest open to participants outside the United States [and/or North America]?"

Yes, we love all the member of our SQL Server community worldwide. Whether you're in Romania or South Africa or China (or anywhere not specifically excluded in the Official Contest Rules™), you can enter the Contest™!!

Because we were thinking about YOU when we drafted the rules, there is even a clause in the Official Contest Rules™ to allow for alternative prizes if there are import/export restrictions on Windows Home Servers where YOU live. We'll work something out. But you have to enter the Contest™ and Win™ first! Hee-hee.