It strikes me as interesting that my last two posts were both, in an indirect way, posts on freedom. First I posted on SQL Server Central being bought by an industry vendor and losing its independence. Then I posted on passing away of Milton Friedman. And I think there is a connection between these two things.
Mr. Friedman believed, as I do, in free and unregulated markets in which this kind of move that Red-Gate made is nobody's business but of the parties involved directly in the transaction. I couldn't agree more. So why are we and others making any noise about it? My answer is simple - to stop the spin and pretenses currently being woven by Red-Gate's spin doctors. Red-Gate bought a site and they bought it for the brand, the membership list and, I believe, the control of information on the site (and probably some other things I didn't think of.) So why not just say so? Because it would be a terrible PR to just go and say "we won't publish negative reviews of our tools, we won't publish positive reviews of the tools of our competitors, we won't allow advertising from our competitors" and so on. Since Red-Gate won't say it - I guess somebody else has to say it.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Milton Friedman has passed away
Milton Friedman died last week. It was big news in U.S. and it was big news here in Chile, one of the countries most influenced by Mr. Friedman's teachings. The country I today live in (and hope to some day call mine not only extra-officially) has been transformed in the last 30 years thanks to free market policies that were implemented first by so called Chicago Boys (a group of Chilean economists educated in the 50s in "Chicago School of Economics") during the regime of Augusto Pinochet and then continued successfully after the transition of Chile back to civilian rule.
I have read several eulogies on Milton Friedman this past week but the one I liked the most by far is in Reason Magazine: It's Milton Friedman's World: We're Just Living Freely in It. There isn't much I can add to this except to say that I personally feel grateful to Mr. Friedman for all that he has done for humanity.
I have read several eulogies on Milton Friedman this past week but the one I liked the most by far is in Reason Magazine: It's Milton Friedman's World: We're Just Living Freely in It. There isn't much I can add to this except to say that I personally feel grateful to Mr. Friedman for all that he has done for humanity.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Red-Gate buys SQL Server Central
The title of this blog is "Developing SQL World" but today I feel compelled to talk about something that might be considered an un-development in SQL world. As you may have seen already in the news from SQL industry, Red-Gate has bought SQL Server Central. Before you go on reading, I want to disclose that I'm not free of personal interest here as I'm a partner in ApexSQL LLC, a competitor of Red-Gate.
For the record, I think it's reasonable that guys from SQL Server Central want to sell their site to the highest bidder and I think it's valid for Red-Gate to want to buy such a site (or any other site for that matter.) These are all consenting adults, so nothing to see there. I also do not hold any illusions about the publishing business and believe that owners of the site have the right to publish whatever the hell they want. However, I have to wonder... what will happen to the community to which this site is purportedly dedicated? What will happen to the independent reviews of SQL Server tools? And what about the honesty and transparency of site's moderators and the forums they moderate? Some people from Red-Gate are saying that "SQL Server Central will maintain its independent voice". But knowing some of the tactics that Red-Gate has employed in the past, there is little doubt in my mind that SQL Server Central will become just another cog in their propaganda machinery.
Other people from Red-Gate* are saying that there is no true freedom in publishing anyway so it doesn't really matter. If so, then why buy the site? It matters a great deal more if owner has a conflict of interest than when an advertiser has a problem with content. Everybody knows it, including the entire community, so they are not fooling anybody. And what is this spin that goes from "it doesn't matter" to "nothing will change"? I know they won't call spade a spade but we don't have to be naive about it.
* 2006-11-25, correction: Phil Factor doesn't work for Red-Gate but blogs and writes articles on Simple-Talk, another one of Red-Gate's publishing sites. This information influences the rest of the paragraph but I have left it as it was originally.
At the end, I believe that free market of ideas will prevail. There are other sites and there will be other sites. But this is a loss for community - let's make no mistakes about it.
For the record, I think it's reasonable that guys from SQL Server Central want to sell their site to the highest bidder and I think it's valid for Red-Gate to want to buy such a site (or any other site for that matter.) These are all consenting adults, so nothing to see there. I also do not hold any illusions about the publishing business and believe that owners of the site have the right to publish whatever the hell they want. However, I have to wonder... what will happen to the community to which this site is purportedly dedicated? What will happen to the independent reviews of SQL Server tools? And what about the honesty and transparency of site's moderators and the forums they moderate? Some people from Red-Gate are saying that "SQL Server Central will maintain its independent voice". But knowing some of the tactics that Red-Gate has employed in the past, there is little doubt in my mind that SQL Server Central will become just another cog in their propaganda machinery.
Other people from Red-Gate* are saying that there is no true freedom in publishing anyway so it doesn't really matter. If so, then why buy the site? It matters a great deal more if owner has a conflict of interest than when an advertiser has a problem with content. Everybody knows it, including the entire community, so they are not fooling anybody. And what is this spin that goes from "it doesn't matter" to "nothing will change"? I know they won't call spade a spade but we don't have to be naive about it.
* 2006-11-25, correction: Phil Factor doesn't work for Red-Gate but blogs and writes articles on Simple-Talk, another one of Red-Gate's publishing sites. This information influences the rest of the paragraph but I have left it as it was originally.
At the end, I believe that free market of ideas will prevail. There are other sites and there will be other sites. But this is a loss for community - let's make no mistakes about it.
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