By now, all you folks who logged on to watch the ultimate Microsoft Data Driven event, streamed live from New York City (my hometown), now know about the extraordinary release and new features planned for SQL Server 2016, and its HUGE!  If you missed it, be sure to see the recorded DataDriven event on-demand here.

So huge, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on-hand himself to discuss the new Data Driven push and was the first of four keynotes to take the stage, followed by Executive VP at Microsoft, Scott Guthrie, Corporate VP Data Group at Microsoft - Joseph Sirosh and Judson Althoff, President, Microsoft North America. Talk about innovation from the top! It was an awesome day full of SQL Server updates and innovations. You heard first-hand from the Executive Suite of Microsoft, and SQL engineers, how SQL Server can help you tackle any data project for any application on your platform of choice.

Some of the big surprises, and one of the most talked about innovations of SQL Server 2016, is no longer the now famous April Fool's post by Steve Jones, Editor of SQLServerCentral.com, that SQL Server can be deployed on Linux. Hah, poppycock you say?  Check the date, it's only March 2016.  Akin to the many visionary technologies of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, SQL on Linux is now a R-E-A-L-I-T-Y!  (See here for The Top 10 real-life Star Trek inventions) The original post was on 4/1/2005, and republished over again (hey, there's never a shortage of gullable techies ;-).  But now, as this article states, "SQL Server on Linux – No April fools", and so, "Announcing SQL Server on Linux", from the Microsoft blogs.  So, does that make Steve Jones a visionary?  Maybe so, after all he did tech edit my book HealthySQL, A Comprehensive Guide to Healthy SQL Server Performance from Apress, but I digress.

But that's not all that's new in SQL Server 2016, and Pearlknows will begin breaking down some of the new most exciting and promising features and innovations.  As Mr. Nadella puts it, "data is the new electricity"!  If you check out the DataDriven event page, you also get access to over 30 on-demand videos to learn about the latest features in SQL Server 2016, like built-in mobile business intelligence (BI), fully integrated advanced analytics, security innovations, mission-critical in-memory performance, and comprehensive hybrid cloud solutions.

If you want to get a head-start and give SQL 2016 early RC 0 a try, download it here, for a preview - just don't go deploying it to production just yet!  And last thing for the shot across it's biggest data platform competitor, Oracle.  Microsoft is offering FREE LICENSES to migrate from Oracle to SQL Server! Now that is HUGE! In fact, it was reported at the event that SQL Server 2016 give MORE for LESS, with an average price tag licensing at 66,500 vs. 803,000 from Oracle.  That is awesome TCO.

Active on Twitter?  Follow @SQLServer, and @Pearlknows for the latest tweets!  Will be bringing you more news and updates soon!