Last year I wrote a Year in Review for 2008 and then a predictions for 2009. I thought it would be good this year to look back on 2009, using my predictions as a basis for examining the year.
My first prediction was that SQLServerCentral would pass 1,000,000 members. We did, and that was a pretty easy one. We had a minor celebration, and continued growing throughout the year, though at a slower pace. We still get a lot of traffic, but we've removed the need to register to read most of the content, and so that has slowed down our growth. I think we're still doing well, and I thank everyone for all the support that keeps me employed.
I also predicted the global economy would slow, again, not a stretch there. Many companies have downsized slightly, and I hear from many people that the job market is tight with DBAs still in demand, but not necessarily able to easily find jobs. I'm not sure how bad things are since many people report that their companies are doing well. Hopefully things will improve in 2010.
On the database side, we finally did get the ability to create a real SQL Server database in the cloud with SQL Azure coming into Beta. If you haven't played with it, we have a few articles published, and a few more on the way. I'm not completely sold on moving databases to the cloud, but I think it makes sense in certain situations. There will be charges for using SQL Azure after January, but if you have an MSDN premium subscription, I believe you can get a development environment for free.
The DATAllergro technology, along with a few others BI bits are coming in SQL Server 2008 R2, still due in the first half of 2010. We have this as a CTP, and it includes some interesting technologies such as PowerPivot and StreamInsight. It definitely seems as though these new technologies have received a lot of focus from Microsoft (as predicted) at most of the conferences and events of 2009. PowerPivot even got its own domain!
I moved to Windows 7 in July, using the CTP, and loved it. When the RTM came out, I rebuilt my machine easily and have been happy with it as my OS. It's fast, responsive, stable, and looks good. The OS tends to be a tool for me, but this was a good one compared to Vista on my laptop. It seems more stable than XP, but it's hard to be sure. I think that companies are adopting Win 7 at an increased rate, but this might be due to a delay in hardware refreshes that has been lifted. My prediction that people would avoid Vista was true, and I think now that Win 7 is seen as a stable and good alternative, people are getting new hardware with it installed.
Social media evolved a little, with many more interconnections between networks, but what seemed to happen is the big ones got bigger. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all grew, especially in the SQL world. I've seen many more colleagues using these tools, and if you're not trying, you might jump on one of them and look for some SQL professionals to connect with or follow. Conference attendance was down, but not horribly, and that was good to see. There were a lot more free events, especially SQL Saturdays, and look for more in 2010.
Hopefully you had a good year, and I'll get some predictions ready for 2010 as well next week.
Steve Jones
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