SQL 2005 Books Online April update

Hmmm...It would appear I've been a bit negligent in keeping my blog up-to-date (no posts in the last 6 months). Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I tend to spend too much time answering newsgroup questions and keeping my chess games from timing out (gameknot.com is a great site if you're a closet chess fan), not to mention even sneaking in the odd bit of work, that I started to neglect the SQL techie blog posts (plus I've been going flat chat learning about all the cool stuff in SQL 2005 and trying to get familiar with it).

This morning I happened to check the webstats counter that I stuck on this page and it's over a couple thousand now - the last time I looked (a few months ago) I was getting about 3-4 hits a day and now I seem to be getting 30-40. Where did all these people come from??? I'd better pull my thumb out and post something worth reading (or at least try too).

So this post is really just an excuse to add a new blog entry (trying to start a come-back) but it's still a genuine post, albeit not very 'techie'. Gail Erickson (SQL Server Documentation Team) announced on the Microsoft public newsgroups today that the April update for SQL 2005 Books Online is available now. You can grab it from...

Standalone install on Microsoft Download Centre:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=be6a2c5d-00df-4220-b133-29c1e0b6585f&DisplayLang=en

Online version on MSDN:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214.aspx

Microsoft have said they're going to be continually adding content to BOL (which, IMHO, is probably the best all-round SQL technical resource available) releasing it regularly - once a quarter was the release schedule from memory. This is a fantastic idea and I'd encourage you all to keep current on BOL as it's such a fine source of documentation (and most of the newsgroup postings you read on the Microsoft public newsgroups can be answered from BOL).

Now, back to chess...I mean work...