At the db-engines.com site, SQL Server was named the DMBS of the year. This was the site's choice based on a measure of how popularity changed from Jan 2016 -Jan 2017. Apparently SQL Server grew in popularity in a number of ways, including job offers and LinkedIn profiles, but also with various search engine metrics and forum discussions. A few people have noted that SQL Server isn't the most popular DBMS, as Oracle and MySQL are above it in January 2017. However, the change in score was dramatic for SQL Server, with MySQL a close second.

Perhaps Microsoft's embracing of open source is a reason why SQL Server is growing in popularity. That's what some people think. With the announcement of SQL Server on Linux, as well as the regular commitments they make to Github, where Microsoft is the largest contributor. Microsoft has had a place for open source projects, CodePlex, for years, but now they have an open source site as well where they have numerous announcements and resources about how one might integrate some of the open source products with their closed source products.

I certainly think the popularity of SQL Server is increasing as it grows to encompass more and more features. Compared to Oracle, SQL Server is a much less expensive, and it integrates well with the .NET stack of programming tools. Microsoft has made strides to make it easier for connections from Java and Python code to SQL Server. I've run across quite a few people using Redis, ElasticSearch, and more in applications along with SQL Server, which implies it's becoming more acceptable and easier to integrate different data platforms than in the past.

SQL Server has been a part of my career for over two decades, and in that time I've seen it become more and more popular, more useful, and easier to integrate into a wide variety of applications. I expect this will continue with the Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse, as well as the Azure Data Lake. There might not be as many installations of SQL Server as Oracle or MySQL, but I think it's the best database platform for me.