To pay or not to pay this is the question

Product reviews are absolutely critical to the success or failure of a product and that is especially true in the software world. Trying a software product takes effort and precious time so we all naturally gravitate towards relying on product reviews that others have done and only take the time to try one or two products that may have been heavily and positively reviewed.

Knowing how important those reviews are we have sent tenths of product review requests in the last 6 years and in the process we have learned the unsettling truth about product reviews: they don’t come by easily. In the case of the big guys (technical magazines and large user group sites) you don’t have to pay for the product review per-say but your product will forever be in the queue unless you are shelling out a few thousand advertising dollars in those medias, only then does your product magically shoot up to the top of the product review queue; whereas in the case of the smaller guys (bloggers and user group contributors) you often have to pay for the review anywhere from a set price of as low as $200 for one product review to a per word price that can be as high as $0.6 per word (this is the highest product review offer we have received).

In the case of the big guys since you are not paying directly for the product review there is no moral dilemma – deep down you know that the review can’t possibly be fair and un-biased. If you are paying $30K / year for advertisements on that media the last thing they would want to do is alienate you with a bad product review, but, it’s easy to shun those thoughts, after all this is your product and you truly believe that it is a great product.

On the other hand, when it comes to paying for the review directly it feels like cheating and unfair to the reader who believes that he is reading an impartial review. For it to feel right one must disclose in big bold letters that “this review has been paid for by the product vendor…”, but such disclosure would likely deem the review worthless. Ideally you would want someone to review your product simply because they like the product and they want to share it with other people but in all fairness reviewing a software product and then writing up your observations and conclusions may take hours of work of which we humans have a very limited supply of. Herein lies our dilemma – to pay or not to pay?

Until now we have chosen not to pay, instead we have only offered the reviewers a free license for the product they decide to review which we think is fair and does not present a conflict of interest. We would certainly be more comfortable continuing with this approach but the results are not very promising hence our pondering.

Let us know what you think – would you pay?

And of course, we would be delighted if you would consider reviewing any of our fine products in exchange for a free license.

Synchronize two SQL Server databases

You are furiously pounding code on your computer and in the meantime making small changes to the local (development) version of the database as the need arises – add a column, change the type and width of another, add a view, make a change to a stored procedure and so on. At some point in the early morning hours as the World wakes up you are ready to publish your work on the production server, somewhere… – just a few clicks and the early risers will see your masterpiece (application) in action. Well, not so fast unfortunately, all those changes you made to the development database must be made to the production database otherwise your application is not going to work, is it? Now, that is some painful and tedious work to say the least. What if you forget something? And here is a twist to make this a real nightmarish scenario – remember last week when the client needed those urgent changes and you were forced to do the “unthinkable” – make changes right on the production database! Worst yet, you realize that you never got around to bringing those changes down to your local, development database – no words can describe the pain you must feel at that moment!

Is this time for panic? No it is not, it is time for xSQL Object – in just a few clicks it will show you exactly where the differences are on both sides and better yet auto-generate the scripts that you need to quickly and safely make the changes.

Download it now and eliminate “the pain” – free lite edition with no strings attached. Supports SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.

Best way to execute t-sql scripts

Whether you need to deploy / execute multiple t-sql scripts to hundreds of your clients or to hundreds of your enterprise servers Script Executor is your best bet. For starters, it supports SQL Server 2000/2005/2008, MySql 5.0 and higher, DB2 9.0 and SQL Server Compact 3.5. It allows you to quickly organize your scripts into virtual script containers and organize your servers into virtual server groups. You can then map the script containers to the server groups, define execution precedence if necessary, and finally just deploy them OR package the scripts into an executable. Imagine, instead of sending your clients t-sql scripts and telling them to download and install Sql Server Management Studio so that they can run your scripts you can just send them an executable file that anyone can run - no that's easy!

New build of xSQL Bundle available

A new build of xSQL Bundle that includes xSQL Object for database schema comparison and synchronization and xSQL Data Compare for comparing and synchronizing data is available for download from: http://www.xsql.com/download/sql_server_comparison_bundle/

The new build adds the ability to include and exclude object level permissions from the synchronization. Permissions are now shown under each object they're granted to or denied on. Statement permissions are listed under the database node in the comparison grid.

xSQL Builder now supports SQL Server 2008

The newly released xSQL Builder 3.0 now supports SQL Server 2008. xSQL Builder provides for effortless distribution of database changes to remote clients. In just minutes you can create an executable package that contains the schema of the "master" database you wish to propagate to your clients - the client executes the executable and voila, the schema of the client database is upgraded.

No more sending T-Sql scripts to your clients - send them an executable instead!

Download your free trial of xSQL Builder now: http://www.xsql.com/download/sql_database_deployment_builder/

Right tool for the job - what our customers say

It is always nice to see a nice blog post about your products but it is awesome to see a paying customer praising the product without being asked to do that and without asking for any favors in return! I just ran accross one such blog post that was published today:
http://catholicinformation.aquinasandmore.com/2009/05/06/using-the-right-tools-for-the-job/ - it is in such cases that we can proudly say: you don't have to listen to us - see what others are saying...

Execute Sql Scripts on DB2

Whether you need to execute one Sql Script on a DB2 database or many Sql Scripts on one or many DB2 databases there is one solution unlike any other – Script Executor. Its simple and intuitive interface allows you to create deployment projects involving hundreds of scripts and hundreds of target databases and then with a click of a button execute them all based on the order you have determined and precedence constraints you may have set.

You can use Script Executor to execute scripts against DB2 9.0 databases.

You can read more and download your trial copy of Script Executor from: http://www.xsql.com/products/script_executor/