Free SQL Prompt 2.0 valuable, but flawed; V3.0 being built from scratc
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Comments posted to this topic are about the content posted at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/pressrelease/freesqlprompt20valuablebutflawedv30beingbuiltfroms.asp
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Hi,
I'm just a .NET Developer, but I find myself working with databases more and more these days as I'm doing some migration from a legacy system to our newer stuff.
I've found this tool to be good, but not great. I didn't expect that it would be great, because it's free but it's certainly helped me a lot.
I have found that it doesn't work out intellisense in some places where I'd expect it should, but I'd imagine that's where version 3.0 will fill in the hole.
I'm very tempted to buy 3.0 now for $99 but is there a list of what doesn't work in 2.0 that will work in 3.0?
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Shame it just doesn't work.
No way I will pay for v3 based on the rubbish in v2.
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Why do you say that? What exactly doesn't work? I've found it works in most places, missing a few irritating things (like picking up new tables, or when using 3-part naming).
Before you judge version 3, remember that they bought version 2 from another company, didn't feel that it was worth selling and are completely rewriting it. Version 3 isn't going to be a modificiation to version 2, it's giong to be a complete re-do.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverabilityWe walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass -
I can really appreciate the fact that a company has the guts to admit to their user community/clients that a mistake has been made and, even more important, will be corrected.
I am for sure willing to give version 3 a try. Will there be a trial version? Limited use is ok by me, as long as it provides a fair insight of the look and feel in the fully licensed product.
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I'd hate to think that anyone at Red-Gate should think that the views of 'alanrobinson' represent anything more than his own eccentric thoughts. The decision to give away a product like this was a good one which we, as SQL Server professionals, should support wholeheartedly. It was good for the potential users because it has given us a chance to request features right at the start of a total rebuild. This is obviously the best time to do it. I used SQLPrompt before it was acquired by Red-Gate and liked it. I also was impressed by the potential of being able to provide a variety of add-in functionality to the Query Analyser/SSMS. With the existing product, the ideas and 'vision' were right, but it needed an experienced development team like Red-Gate to make it into a servicable product. I'd ask 'alanrobinson' to wait until the new product is released before passing judgement because I'm sure he'll change his mind.
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It was really brave decision to redesign the whole application from scratch adn I think it gonna be excelelnt product muche better than buggy v2.
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Alan I respect your opinion but to say the product was "rubbish" is a bit harsh. If you look around the net you'll find a lot of free "rubbish" most of which is just off knock offs of other products. I found the product to be buggy and the version that I receved did expire but would likley use this tool. I am not the beat typer in the world.
as for the 99 bones I spend more on dinner sometimes so that doesn't bother me.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so candid about this product and your plans for the new version. It's not often we find out the 'real deal' on software and I have to say, it was very refreshing.
I started using v2 a few weeks ago and although it's not perfect, I really like it. Hey, it's a lot better than what we had before.
I will definitely be purchasing v3 when it's available. As an instructor, I am telling all my students about your product and I will pass on the information about v2/v3. Jen
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You what? Didn't you bother to read the article at all? And why on earth are you complaining about something that's _free_? If you don't like it then delete it and move on. Quit bitching.
Personally I thing that SQL Prompt is just great. It really fills a hole and as for being totally free: that I love!
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I am one of those who installed it, used it, loved it, but un-installed it. Why? Short list:
- I do a lot of work with Mobile databases. Not ready to play with Mobile
- I loose control of the keyboard in Visual Studio IDE forcing a reboot.
We are in the midst of rolling out a product that uses SQL server database both on the host side and the mobile. We wrote our own sync process because IIS is to costly (for our customers) to secure properly. With hundreds of wireless devices in the field we are attaching to sdf files every day during this roll out phase.
Each of these roll outs involves data import from legacy databases. I'm in the IDE with two to three multi-project solutions open all day long. Imagine the horror of every cursor movement suddenly highlighting randdom bits of code, not being able to unselect any of it, and watching the whole lot of it being replaced by a single key stroke.
Happenend once too often.No, no actual code was lost. I'm too paranoid to trust anything. Double backups and never having any file checked out of sourcesafe longer than ten minutes saved me.
But I love SQL Prompt. We just don't get much call for simple projects. I love having my keywords in upper case. My desk is crowded with project specifications. Not having to keep printed schemas around is a big plus. Correctly spelling long (too_damn_long_for_my_taste) field names because I picked it from a list is a big saver.
ATBCharles Kincaid
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It was too flaky. Granted it was free, but this product has 'tarnished' the company's reputation in my opinion. The candid email to explain things is spin control - just more honest than most. The only way this company can hope to win any credibility back from me is to license v3.0 'gratis' to all who downloaded the 'free' v2.0 <period>. All in all I spent more than $200 worth of time in order to install, test and uninstall the product. Unless they are writing a check to me for my time, I see no reason to write a check to them.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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I'm a somewhat satisfied PromptSQL v1.4 user who reverted back to the $25 product from SQL Prompt v2.0. Far too much had been stripped from v2.0 and v2.1 didn't put back the especially useful snippet import-export, besides which, on my XP Pro SP2 box v2.1 simply doesn't run (known bug, hard to trace, common to all RG SQL Products, but is fixed in SQL Dependency Tracker).
$99 was a bit of a leap, but $195!!! Per seat??? OK, so the rewrite costs RG time and energy, but an 800% price hike! (give or take a few points for the pickey ones among us). Atadore used to offer volume discounts - even at the $25 price point!
Candidly - as RG has been candid - reconsider the price PLEASE! Some shops simply don't have enough in the kitty to fund SS2005 licensing then $195 per SQL Developer. I frequently wonder why the volume-sales premise loses out over the "high perceived value justifies a high price" approach. If you lower your price point you get a far greater number of customers and you recoup your investment $ based on volume. Sure, buying Prompt SQL then having to give away SQL Prompt wasn't exactly helpful to the bottom line - but an 800% price hike to an existing customer base is frankly RIDICULOUS! RG isn't Microsoft! Perleeze don't fall into their pricing rut - they have a nigh on monopoly in many areas - RG doesn't.
In hindsight, I wish Damian (Atadore) had elected make the product open source if the development effort had become too much.
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I bought the $25 version, and it has rough edges but saves loads of time. It provides not just decent intellisense, but code snippets. Just being able to type ssf[TAB] and get SELECT * FROM is huge.
I can't imagine why anybody would complain about a free tool that is useful, but I am concerned that $200 is totally unreasonable. Will there be an upgrade price for PromptSQL users?
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Thanks for sharing, Simon! Everyone appreciates your candidness; and please pay no attention to the cranks.
I'm currently using Apex SQLEdit, which is working better for me than the your free version (and our company has the suite licensed). It's a good product, but I'm still looking for something with better intellisense.
By better I mean FASTER FASTER FASTER. I know I'm not an incredibly fast programmer, and so far all the SQL intellisense products are to slow for my nimble fingers.
It would be ideal to refresh the metadata in an asynchronous way instead of checking for updates when intellisense is needed.
Also, if you display the dropdown only after the first letter is typed this should speed things up significantly. Only after a significant delay should the whole list be displayed.
FASTER FASTER FASTER; it's it's not fast it's useless to me no matter how cool it is.
cl
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