SQL Server 2025 is out in preview form. CTP 2.0 is available for you to test, and there are quite a few changes that have been added to the platform. Some of these are already in the cloud, but this is your chance to test them in your environment.

This is version 17.x, though I don’t know we’ve really had 17 versions to work with. In any case, there have been a lot of versions in my career. I’ve connected to and worked on all of these: 4.2, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022. No 2025 yet (other than install and a few basic queries), but that’s coming.

In that time, I’ve seen this platform evolve significantly, incorporating new features, capabilities, language changes, and more. SQL Server has been a very capable database platform for millions of users around the world. Many of you reading this have probably based a good portion of your career, if not all of it, on Microsoft SQL Server. I know I have, and it’s been a good career.

With that in mind, and trying to be positive, what is your favorite feature/improvement/change in SQL Server over the years? What has made a big difference in your career or job? Maybe this made your customers happy, maybe something made your job easier, or maybe there’s a change that just reduced your stress.

If you’re looking for a list of changes, there are some at Wikipedia, though this isn’t an exhaustive list. Brent wrote about his top 6 things, all of which are good changes. I certainly think that the DMVs are amazing when I look at other platforms and the lack of information they surface.

If I think about the things that have made a huge difference for my positions, I’d say that 2005 with CTEs and DMVs were huge. However, for me, the addition of the OVER() clause and Window functions are incredible. That is one of the language changes I have used a lot over the years to simplify aggregate queries that were much harder with GROUP BY structures.

The other feature that I think is amazing is the automatic seeding in Availability Groups. That alone makes it easy to add nodes, consider upgrades, and more without requiring long, slow backup copies. While I’ve rarely used it, I can think of many times in the past when it would have made my life much easier.

What is your favorite improvement to the platform over the years? Let me know which thing has made your job much easier, more efficient, or maybe more enjoyable.

Steve Jones

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