June 16, 2023 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Free Tools, Does Innovation Matter?
Creator of SQLFacts, a free suite of tools for SQL Server database professionals.
June 16, 2023 at 12:37 pm
I remember seeing the article and have downloaded the tool suite, but haven't had a chance to evaluate it yet for how to use it. We do often get asked about performance tuning, but are also sometimes limited in what we can install/use so I have to proceed carefully.
I appreciate the reminder to take a closer look at what we can do with this for those performance tuning scenarios.
June 16, 2023 at 1:03 pm
@wingenious it feels like you're focusing a lot of energy on the competition.
Software isn't like Field of Dreams: if you build it, they don't just come.
You have to constantly evangelize your own tools. Write blog posts about how to use them, do YouTube videos showing how they work, use the tools in user group presentations, etc. It never stops - I first announced sp_Blitz twelve years ago, and I still meet people all the time who've never used it.
I hear you in the post that you want other people to pick up your tools and evangelize them, but it almost never happens. Think about the last time you saw someone other than me do a presentation on the First Responder Kit, or someone other than Ola Hallengren do a presentation on his maintenance scripts. The reality is that even with well-established tools, other people won't do that evangelism work.
Innovation is awesome, and we're all here for it, me included. I love seeing new blogs pop up, new speakers, new tools - it's great! But for us to learn about 'em, you have to teach us.
June 16, 2023 at 1:47 pm
I don't know if this is a very valid criticism, but the website where you can download SQLFacts and where it is explained looks very 90's. Giving it a more modern look might give the impression that your tools are 'newer' and increase peoples interest.
June 16, 2023 at 2:29 pm
Today is the first time I heard about SQLFacts. I think Brent's comments are really relevant - if the author of a tool wants it to be used they must be the main evangelist for the tool. Also evangelise it in the forums used by the target audience, otherwise its use will never grow.
For 13 years I worked on SQL FineBuild, which greatly simplified the process of installing and configuring SQL Server. It includes things like clustering and AGs, and the Wiki describes best practice for availability and resilience. Take up was very low.
Anyhow now that I have retired so has SQL FineBuild. This is said without rancour, it simply reflects the reality of building your own tools. Unless they get taken up by a business or a large user community they will eventually fade away.
I hope SQLFacts has a good future, but don't have overly high expectations.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
June 16, 2023 at 4:25 pm
I've never heard of SQLFacts - thank you for exposing it.
June 17, 2023 at 3:30 pm
I downloaded it a while back. It’s an extensive set of tools.
Am I using it in my production environment? Not yet.
Why? Finding the time to perform the testing, and share the results with the rest of my team, is going to be difficult. Arguably, there are some features that we do not need; we get that info from other tools, paid as well as free.
We also have a significantly complicated process to get software approved to be installed on production servers. That takes time.
The existing suite of tools we have in place does what we need. We may or may not get the opportunity to fully test this suite.
The key thing is that while this appears to be a very good set of tools, there isn’t anything in it that’s going to make us jump onboard.
If we’re starting from scratch, with nothing already in place, maybe.
Replacing a mature set of tools that the entire organization is comfortable with may be an uphill battle.
Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/
June 18, 2023 at 4:34 am
Thanks to all for the comments!
I agree that a person must be their own best advocate. However, pretending that's enough is foolish. All the other tools mentioned in my guest editorial have benefitted from an enormous amount of promotion by various members of the community. I see it every week. I'm hoping the old saying "build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door" still has meaning.
There are several things I should have made clearer in my guest editorial and/or my series of articles about SQLFacts.
1) There's nothing to install. The tools are simply T-SQL code.
2) The tools do not modify anything. They just provide information (or generate T-SQL code).
3) The evaluation/testing would probably be limited to assuring yourself the provided information is complete and accurate.
4) The suite is not an all-or-nothing deal. You can use familiar tools where they suffice and use SQLFacts for its unique functionality (see my seventh article).
5) It's common to not realize you need a certain thing when it does not exist. Innovation is often about meeting needs that were previously unknown. The best features of SQLFacts came from needs identified through actual performance tuning work.
If you are planning to try SQLFacts, be sure to download the current version. I'm semi-retired, but SQLFacts continues to grow and improve.
Creator of SQLFacts, a free suite of tools for SQL Server database professionals.
June 19, 2023 at 2:18 pm
I have an issue with the license:
The SQLFacts suite of tools may not be distributed outside your immediate organization, in whole, in part, or in any form, without explicit written permission from Wingenious.
Please review the licenses of the other tools and compare them to yours
June 19, 2023 at 7:49 pm
I have an issue with the license:
The SQLFacts suite of tools may not be distributed outside your immediate organization, in whole, in part, or in any form, without explicit written permission from Wingenious.
Please review the licenses of the other tools and compare them to yours
The current license is very permissive. I have asked you what you want to do with SQLFacts that the current license prohibits, but you have refused to answer.
You have complained about the license terms multiple times across multiple websites. You have complained that the license is not embedded in each SQL file. Another person complained that the documentation is not embedded in each SQL file. Really? REALLY?
Maybe petty complaints like these are why such a massive set of tools has never been contributed to the SQL Server community. Maybe I was too naive and/or idealistic to realize it would unfold this way.
Creator of SQLFacts, a free suite of tools for SQL Server database professionals.
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