PDC: Microsoft Goes Into the Blue
The names keep on changing at Microsoft. This week, SQL Data Services or SDS
(formerly SQL Server Data Services or SSDS) became part of a broader group called
"SQL Services." The technology is exciting even if the naming conventions
leave some developers scratching their heads.
SQL Services is part of the rollout for Windows
Azure -- another name that got a lot of people talking about Microsoft's
inability to communicate its promising technology to developers...or the world
at large, for that manner.
"I don't know how they come up with these names," voiced one Microsoft
partner during his presentation. "I just hope I'm pronouncing it right."
If he did, he was ahead of several Microsoft presenters and even some keynoters
who offered several "variations" of Azure in the same speech.
SQL Services is the data storage component of the Azure Services Platform for
building cloud-based apps. Just for showing up -- and for paying the $1,000-plus
conference fee -- PDC attendees got the coveted "goods," which included
a preview
of Windows 7, the first Visual
Studio 2010 CTP and an invitation to register for components of the Azure
Services Platform, including SDS provisioning.
Redmond Developer News Executive Editor Jeffrey Schwartz and I got
to sit down with Dave Campbell, the Microsoft Technical Fellow leading the SDS
effort. We didn't really touch on the name change except to confirm it, but
we did ask him all about Microsoft's evolving data platform. Look for our Q&A
in the Nov. 15 issue of RDN. And see "PDC:
Microsoft's Cloud-based SQL Services Redefined" for more data-related
announcements at PDC.
Is the economic climate piquing your interest in cloud-based utility services?
What would you like to see in SDS? Weigh in on SDS and Microsoft's naming habits
at krichards@reddevnews.com.
Posted by Kathleen Richards on 10/29/2008