I read with a bit of despair this post by Denise McInerney this morning. Going forward, it’s just “PASS”. Somehow we’ve transitioned to being a data organization, which I think means big data, Power Query, Sharepoint, Excel, and everything else.  I always thought the SQL Server community was plenty big enough without needing to expand into other areas, and we’ve always been great about including cross over topics at our events – it’s never been only SQL Server, just primarily SQL Server.

Maybe it’s the smart move and I’m the guy who doesn’t like change (that doesn’t seem like me, but maybe)? Maybe it’s just a name change and nothing more? Or maybe it’s that point that many companies hit where they think they have to change or die (or grow or die).  To me, the BA conference was the start down this slope. It should have been the BI Conference and it should be focused on MS BI, still with allowing some cross over topics. Maybe there is a place in the world for a data organization and I might want to participate in it too, but I go to the Summit and I’m a member of PASS because of the focus.

Maybe it’s just a name change. It will be interesting to look back in two years and see.