The Ashdar Partners Blog

I had someone ask me about DACPACs recently. DACPAC technology had fallen off of my radar after I had seen demos of the feature at a SQL Saturday many years ago. In short, a DACPAC is a file that contains definitions for the objects of a database. This file can be used to create new databases or update old databases to a new version. For the most part, existing data in the updated database should be preserved. DACPAC technology is intended to replace the bundles of .SQL scripts and the giant "Hail, Mary" scripts that are often used to update databases. At the time of that SQL Saturday demo, which was probably in the SQL Server 2008 timeframe, DACPAC technology was new and there were a lot of gotchas. IIRC, it was presented as a way to create databases in SQ:L Azure. A few weeks ago, I noticed that SSDT was creating DACPAC files. I've long been a user of the database comparison tool provided by SSDT and other "Data Dude" descendants, but I didn't giv...

Over the last few years, I've spent more time following business issues in the IT industry than I had when I was younger. Perhaps it's just another mark of getting older. Over the holidays, a news item caught my eye: SugarSync has stopped giving away free storage . It's the hallmark of any new technology or developing area of business: Someone comes up with something new.  Many other players pile into the new space. Some time passes Players that can't make money (or generate the growth numbers they want) leave the new field and the space consolidates. The consolidation can go down to just a few companies. Those companies do not always include the one that created the space. We have seen this with cars (in the first part of the 20th century, there were hundreds of small manufacturers in the US alone. now there are only two behemoths that are headquartered here and a few dozen firms based overseas). Other technologies (radio, television, ISPs, RDBMs, hard d...