Experience with SQL Server 2008! Must be 2008!

[Robinho]

What is it with statists and cliches?

[darmstadt]

Ask them on what OS SQL Server is running and point out that SQL Server 2005 on Windows is actually the same as SQL Server 2008 on AIX. That should **** 'em completely...


BTW, WTF is Silverlight? I noticed a menu item for it on my Windows box but thought with a name like that its probably some fairy type game....

[tractor]

Some people have been saying that Silverlight's dead for years, but I've yet to see a definitive Microsoft statement saying that it's no longer supported. And even when Microsoft have made statements like that in the past, it hasn't always meant that a technology is actually dead – look at VB6. I'm not an evangelist for Silverlight, but I don't think the alternatives are all that.

Whenever someone mentions Silverlight being "dead", it's usually in relation to HTML5 as a competitor technology. Their implication is generally that it's pointless developing in a technology that has a competitor (HTML5) that they feel is likely to become dominant in future years.

Whenever that old chestnut comes up at an interview, I always invite them to visit www.html5test.com, and report how many features of the present (still evolving) version of HTML5 their current browser supports? I then tell them that's how much of the current HTML5 spec they'll be restricted to using if they choose HTML5 now.

It's always revealing whatever browser they use, but particularly if they're using IE, which is decreasing in popularity but still at the present time has the largest market share of any browser. It only supports approx one fifth of the HTML5 spec. So, if you're releasing a commercial product, you need to restrict yourself to that one fifth of what HTML5 can do too, or risk failing to support a critical market share of users.

I remember downloading and trialling beta SL after I saw the MS marketing blurb and presentations. I couldn't believe how slick and polished it made presentations look and thought, if only there was a commercial application for this

I also remember watching the pre release of OLE all those years ago and thinking how wonderful it could be until the reality was, it took 3 major versions to get it right and by then it had become obsolete.

[d000hg]

Microsoft's alternative to Flash is the short answer.

[BrilloPad]

Maybe you should have said you had 2009 and asked if that would do?

[Mich the Tester]

Am I right in saying that SQL Server 2012 is 'cloud ready' but SQL Server 2008 isn't?

I know, I know, I'm talking out of my arse.

[Gentile]

I remember downloading and trialling beta SL after I saw the MS marketing blurb and presentations. I couldn't believe how slick and polished it made presentations look and thought, if only there was a commercial application for this

I also remember watching the pre release of OLE all those years ago and thinking how wonderful it could be until the reality was, it took 3 major versions to get it right and by then it had become obsolete.

I had the same experience with Flash back in 2001. I thought it was a great technology, but it was another five years or so before YouTube came along and made it a no-brainer for everyone to install.

I'm sure Microsoft would pre-bundle SL with IE if they could, but they'd only be accused of abusing their dominant market position to promote their own proprietary technology again if they did. So, they make it an add-on that will work with all popular browsers instead. That separation costs them dearly: can you imagine if iTunes didn't come with your iPhone?, or if Google Maps were a separately-downloadable product for Android?

I've seen a few excellent websites created with Silverlight, but mostly people just want the web to work without worrying about installing add-ons. That's why people can't be bothered with all those popups imploring them to install Android apps whenever they browse the web – for the most part, they just want things to work in-browser and natively, or not at all.

[Gentile]

Am I right in understanding that SQL Server 2012 is 'cloud ready' but SQL Server 2008 isn't?

I know, I know, I'm talking out of my arse.

I've not used SQL Server 2012 in anger yet, but SQL Azure was the related technology that was cloud-oriented last time I was working in that area. To make that work, you basically took a database you'd designed structurally in SQL 2008 R2 and uploaded it to SQL Azure. Having a quick read, it looks like some of the third party tools that made that process work for SQL 2008 R2 are now directly built-in to SQL Server 2012. Further details here.

[Mich the Tester]

I've not used SQL Server 2012 in anger yet, but SQL Azure was the related technology that was cloud-oriented last time I was working in that area. To make that work, you basically took a database you'd designed structurally in SQL 2008 R2 and uploaded it to SQL Azure. Having a quick read, it looks like some of the third party tools that made that process work for SQL 2008 R2 are now directly built-in to SQL Server 2012. Further details here.

They're going to be amazed at the interview.

[EternalOptimist]

They're going to be amazed at the interview.

knock em dead tester-man