After this morning’s keynote, I managed to make it down to the expo hall JUST in time to catch Red-Gate’s big announcement. They’re sending a DBA into space.

No, seriously. Red-Gate, arguably already the coolest company in the entire SQLsphere, has launched a contest to send one lucky DBA into space on one of the new commercial space programs. The company Twitter stream has exploded with questions and retweets. (One corner of) the PASS Sumit vendor floor is dominated by the beautiful space-themed Red-Gate display. Children weep for joy in the streets. There is talk of peace on Earth at last. I’m assuming on a couple of those. Still…

Here’s the moment of announcement (sorry about the low volume) :

I have been trying to find the words to describe how immensely far this elevates Red-Gate’s already admirable standing in the SQL community, and in my eyes particularly. I have utterly failed to find those words.

Dear Red-Gate: Well played, well done. Love, Me