SQL Server Magazine UPDATE, September 8, 2005--WinFS: More Than Just a New Feature

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September 8, 2005

1. Perspectives

2. SQL Server 2005 Watch

3. News & Views

4. Events and Resources

5. Featured White Paper

6. Peer to Peer

7. Announcements

8. New & Improved

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1. Perspectives

    by Brian Moran, [email protected]

Last week, Microsoft announced the beta availability of WinFS, a new filesystem that bridges the gap between traditional file systems, unstructured data in formats such as email, and traditional databases. Of course, I know what WinFS is because its roots go back to the early days of SQL Server 2000, when Microsoft first started talking about something called SQLFS. Arguably, WinFS traces its conceptual roots to the earliest days of Windows NT (circa 1994), when Microsoft was planning an upgrade called Cairo (which never materialized) that would include an object-oriented file system. WinFS was slated to be part of Longhorn, but Microsoft pulled it from Longhorn release plans last year. Like many people, I assumed that Microsoft had relegated the WinFS to the vaporware backburners for the indefinite future.

I like to think I'm a bit of an insider for SQL Server-related news at Microsoft, so I was surprised to learn last week that WinFS Beta 1 is available to MSDN subscribers and will eventually be available for Vista and possibly Windows XP, as well as Longhorn. (Beta 1 bits work on Windows XP Service Pack 2--SP2--but Microsoft hasn't said what platforms WinFS will support at its release.) I've gotten my hopes up about WinFS; the potential for ground-breaking change in the way we interact with unstructured data through WinFS is so great that I can't help but get a tiny bit excited about a pending release. Microsoft says that WinFS will still be in beta when Vista ships, reciting the company mantra, "It will ship when it's ready."

WinFS is more than "just another new feature." The product truly has the potential to change the way we manage and interact with the vast amount of information that's not stored in a traditional database. A recent blog entry by Shishir Mehrotra, who runs the Microsoft WinFS product-planning team, provides an anecdotal story about how we might use WinFS in the real world. You can read the entire text of this blog entry at http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=13160:1036D . Mehrotra deftly describes how WinFS uses a query builder and an information model to make an employee's email inbox work more like a relational database--thus making it easier for the employee to efficiently manage her mail. The blog explains WinFS as a "relational filesystem" that lets applications store data that's more complex than a typical file.

Interested in learning more about WinFS? Check out the MSDN WinFS site at http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1315E:1036D . MSDN subscribers can download the WinFS beta bits, the URL also offers links to great WinFS resources, including:

WinFS creates the potential for entirely new classes of applications that would have been almost impossible to build from the ground up without the platform plumbing that Microsoft now provides.

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2. SQL Server 2005 Watch

On Monday, August 29, Microsoft released to MSDN subscribers the first beta version of its integrated data platform, WinFS. Billed as a "preview of WinFS," the beta has been released at an early stage in the product's development to elicit input from beta testers. Nevertheless, Microsoft reports that the beta does include the core capabilities that the product will contain at its final release. The WinFS data model lets users define complex concepts such as items and relationships. The model also includes object APIs to help developers program in the platform and a set of core schemas that enable sharing of information between applications. WinFS Beta 1 runs on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Future betas and consumer technology preview (CTP) releases are planned. For more information, visit the Microsoft Data Access and Storage Developer Center at
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3. News & Views

Results of Previous Instant Poll: SQL Server Express
"What would you use SQL Server Express for?" Here are the results from the 41 votes:

New Instant Poll: WinFS Beta
"Will you participate in the WinFS Beta?" Go to the SQL Server Magazine home page ( http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=13169:1036D ) and submit your vote for

4. Events and Resources

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In this free, half-day event you'll learn how the top new features of SQL Server 2005 will help you create and manage large-scale, mission-critical, enterprise database applications--making your job easier. Find out how to leverage SQL Server 2005's new capabilities to best support your business initiatives. Register today!
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5. Featured White Paper

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6. Peer to Peer

    by Carl Rabeler, [email protected]

As an administrator for a SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services instance, can I delegate permission to a Windows user or group to process an Analysis Services cube or dimension without also granting permissions to view the data in the cube or dimension?

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SQL Server 2005 introduces APPLY, a handy new operator that's used in a query's FROM clause. The APPLY operator basically lets you apply a table expression to every row of an outer table. In his August T-SQL 2005 column "SQL Server 2005's APPLY Operator," Itzik Ben-Gan explains this cool new operator and its benefits and gives you some ways you can put it to good use. Read the entire article today at
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Kevin Kline enjoys the perspective on U.S. culture that he gets when he travels internationally, and consequently he also enjoys hearing the perspective of foreigners visiting the United States. In this week's blog, Kevin points to a rave from a visiting family and invites you to enjoy the writer's humorous perspective. Take a look at the blog and let Kevin know what you think today at
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7. Announcements

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8. New & Improved

    by Dawn Cyr, [email protected]

Have you used a product that saved you time or made your job easier? Tell us how your favorite product solved a SQL Server problem for you, and if we print your submission in the magazine's Hands On department we'll send you a SQL Server Magazine t-shirt. Send your email today to [email protected]!

Innovartis announced DB Ghost 4.0, change-management software for SQL Server databases that automates the process of building and deploying SQL Server databases directly from any source-code control system. The software connects to a source-code control system and extracts the latest definitions of the database objects and lookup data. The product then uses these definitions to build and verify the integrity of the database code and uses the verified code to compare and synchronize your target database and generate a change script. The complete DB Ghost toolset consists of a series of modules that you can plug into existing tools or combine as a bundled toolset at a discounted price. Pricing for DB Ghost Professional Edition, which includes Innovartis's Scripter, Builder, Schema Compare, and Data Compare, starts at $350. For complete module and pricing information, contact Innovartis at 44(0) 208-241-1762 or [email protected].
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