January 8, 2012 at 5:41 pm
GilaMonster (1/8/2012)
Jeff Moden (1/8/2012)
Do you have a convenient link for the "recent changes"?Err, no, sorry. I got the rant from my boss and colleague and ran across a few more complaints in various places. Probably best place is http://partner.microsoft.com
I just read up on the "changes" coming up in October. Heh... apparently the "Gold" in "Gold Partnership" has more than one meaning.
Thanks for the link, Gail.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 8, 2012 at 11:04 pm
they should have read the background of the company first before proceeding with the implementation.. customer feedback review is also a must.
Anyway, I have a horror story too but its not related to MS though its from IBM, they have proposed a storage upgrade for us which combines all hard disk of all servers to one. At first it was good then disaster came. We called IBM for support then boom they sent a kid who looked like a college fresh grad while our company loose 500k per hour. it tooked them the whole day to fix the issue, and set reinforcements afterwards. What I want to emphasize here is that their customer service should act swiftly on the issue and not just send people who are not fitted to work on the case. considering that our company was the first to utilize that kind of service in our country.
The scary part is our IT department that time was to blame and sure no salary increase for that year.. 😀
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"lets do amazing" our company motto..
January 9, 2012 at 6:15 am
1) It isn't just gold partners that can't design/build a decent SQL Server application. Have you ever taken a gander at Sharepoint?? :w00t:
2) Many 3rd party vendors have cross-platform applications and have to "dumb-down" their schemas and code for the lowest-common-denominator among the platforms they support (or make the code "maintainable" by using simplest constructs such as server-side cursors). Unfortunate, but real-life situation and there isn't much to be done about it. ERP and CRM vendors are big culprits here.
3) I have been called in as a consultant numerous times to clean up the mess(es) left by past consultants or consulting teams, often certified ones. Passing a few tests (especially at the company level) does NOT mean a person or consulting team knows jack sh!t about SQL Server!
Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service
January 9, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Take a gander as ASPDotNet Store Front if you want a horror story for table layouts. All pretty much NVARCHAR(MAX) or NTEXT.
Todd Fifield
January 9, 2012 at 1:48 pm
tfifield (1/9/2012)
Take a gander as ASPDotNet Store Front if you want a horror story for table layouts. All pretty much NVARCHAR(MAX) or NTEXT.Todd Fifield
MS Dynamics/CRM 4 is pretty much the same.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events
January 9, 2012 at 4:27 pm
SQLRNNR (1/9/2012)
MS Dynamics/CRM 4 is pretty much the same.
Jason,
I'll keep that in mind before taking any contracts dealing with it.
Todd Fifield
January 9, 2012 at 4:31 pm
jnuqui (1/8/2012)
they should have read the background of the company first before proceeding with the implementation.. customer feedback review is also a must.Anyway, I have a horror story too but its not related to MS though its from IBM, they have proposed a storage upgrade for us which combines all hard disk of all servers to one. At first it was good then disaster came. We called IBM for support then boom they sent a kid who looked like a college fresh grad while our company loose 500k per hour. it tooked them the whole day to fix the issue, and set reinforcements afterwards...
Well, thats IBM practice. If you deal with them long enough, you'll know they normally send junior staffs to fix issue, because they can follow manuals and procedures to resolve issues, and I'd bet he keep calling some senior technical staffs for questions\answer. You'll either see more senior specialist from IBM if your company has deep pockets or good relationship (means you've contributed sufficiently to their wallet or on an expensive contract). But nevertheless, I've also dealt with some good IBM specialists.
Simon
Simon Liew
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
January 9, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Back to the original topic - IMO to Microsoft Gold Certified Partners you can apply the same cavet that is mandatory in each financial prospectus: "Past performance is not a guarantee of future results."
January 10, 2012 at 3:57 am
Simon-413722 (1/9/2012)
jnuqui (1/8/2012)
they should have read the background of the company first before proceeding with the implementation.. customer feedback review is also a must.Anyway, I have a horror story too but its not related to MS though its from IBM, they have proposed a storage upgrade for us which combines all hard disk of all servers to one. At first it was good then disaster came. We called IBM for support then boom they sent a kid who looked like a college fresh grad while our company loose 500k per hour. it tooked them the whole day to fix the issue, and set reinforcements afterwards...
Well, thats IBM practice. If you deal with them long enough, you'll know they normally send junior staffs to fix issue, because they can follow manuals and procedures to resolve issues, and I'd bet he keep calling some senior technical staffs for questions\answer. You'll either see more senior specialist from IBM if your company has deep pockets or good relationship (means you've contributed sufficiently to their wallet or on an expensive contract). But nevertheless, I've also dealt with some good IBM specialists.
Simon
ofcourse we did.. :))
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"lets do amazing" our company motto..
January 10, 2012 at 11:07 am
Before calling this a bad design you need to consider the functionality the software is providing. If the software allows the users to define the field names and format for all fields then this type of structure is pretty much needed. It certainly isn't ideal, but it may be the only reasonable alternative.
January 10, 2012 at 11:24 am
royce.bacon (1/10/2012)
Before calling this a bad design you need to consider the functionality the software is providing. If the software allows the users to define the field names and format for all fields then this type of structure is pretty much needed. It certainly isn't ideal, but it may be the only reasonable alternative.
The need for the end user to define columns (not fields) might just be the most obvious evidence of a bad design.... 😉
Do you have an example where such a scenario is "the only reasonable alternative"?
January 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm
LutzM (1/10/2012)
royce.bacon (1/10/2012)
Before calling this a bad design you need to consider the functionality the software is providing. If the software allows the users to define the field names and format for all fields then this type of structure is pretty much needed. It certainly isn't ideal, but it may be the only reasonable alternative.The need for the end user to define columns (not fields) might just be the most obvious evidence of a bad design.... 😉
Do you have an example where such a scenario is "the only reasonable alternative"?
Sharepoint. Oh, wait....
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
January 10, 2012 at 1:51 pm
The need for the end user to define columns (not fields) might just be the most obvious evidence of a bad design....
Do you have an example where such a scenario is "the only reasonable alternative"?
I know that a lot of software providers claim that because many users insist on custom columns, they create generic columns and then allow the users to specify their preferred data type for the column.
If you have to provide software to dozens, perhaps hundreds (more?), customers, and each wants their own customizations, I can see how it would be very tempting to include some generic columns that each cust could designate as desired.
SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".
January 10, 2012 at 4:14 pm
ScottPletcher (1/10/2012)
The need for the end user to define columns (not fields) might just be the most obvious evidence of a bad design....
Do you have an example where such a scenario is "the only reasonable alternative"?
I know that a lot of software providers claim that because many users insist on custom columns, they create generic columns and then allow the users to specify their preferred data type for the column.
If you have to provide software to dozens, perhaps hundreds (more?), customers, and each wants their own customizations, I can see how it would be very tempting to include some generic columns that each cust could designate as desired.
The latter is a common approach; e.g., Exchange Server.
January 10, 2012 at 4:30 pm
*yawn* now we've all finished slagging off MS, their products and their Gold partners can we move onto something else. A lot of the people in this thread doubtless earn good money from MS products, don't bite the hand that feeds you huh!!! 😀
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