Here is the introductory post to my new blog on SQL, data-driven applications, performance, scaling, and anything else I feel like posting.  For those of you who do not know me, Paul Randal (http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/) and I worked together on Microsoft SQL Server for a number of years.  While Paul worked in the Storage Engine, I worked on the Query Processor.  Like Paul, I left Microsoft about a year ago (all good things must come to an end...).  Paul and Kimberly have been gracious enough to host me on their site so I can help answer questions about SQL Server, teach people a bit about what I know, and force me to learn a few things as well.

While at Microsoft, I was a development lead on the Query Optimizer and had architectural dutues for much of the query pipeline.

I actually blogged in my official capacity at Microsoft.  You can read about  my previous posts  here (http://blogs.msdn.com/queryoptteam/) and here (http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlqueryprocessing/default.aspx).

I'll be posting some content about the new SQL Server 2008 features I find interesting over the coming weeks.  I'm also happy to answer general questions about the Query Processor or SQL Server in general.

So, welcome!

Sincerely,
Conor Cunningham