T-SQL Tuesday #175: Balancing Old and New Tech

Can you believe we’ve hit the halfway point of 2024 for T-SQL Tuesday? Scary stuff. This month’s invite comes from Andy Leonard who asks about balancing the benefits and liabilities of older, existing data and software platforms compared with newer platforms. To read the full invite, click the T-SQL Tuesday logo.

For Work

In my professional life, if I’m making the switch from something old that works to something new that should work better, I want to make sure that I’m actually going to take advantage of whatever is new.

For instance, there could be a new SQL Server feature that stands out that looks like it would be fun to experiment with, but if it’s not relevant to the database environment and the client doesn’t see any value after implementing it, why bother? I’ve been there before discussing upgrades. I could say, “we can upgrade and then we can do x, y, and z” but it may not be worth the cost if those changes more or less only check a box.

For Play

I also try to consider how fast technology is going to advance before I jump on the bandwagon. Take the Apple Vision Pro for example. I read articles, watched reviews, and was considering whether or not I needed to get my hands on one to boost my workflow.

But somewhere along the line, I read an article that said, “this is cool, but this will be the worst Apple Vision Pro ever created,” and for some reason that stuck with me. Soon enough, there will be software upgrades and hardware upgrades that will put the initial version to shame.

I couldn’t see myself personally getting enough benefit to justify spending $3,000-$5,000. When the next, better version comes along, then maybe. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I think anyone who buys an Apple Vision Pro is a sucker; I still think it’s great. But I’ll hold out and see how the next version looks before I decide to jump in. VisionOS 2 was just announced, so maybe that will lead me to take another serious look.

Overall

Answering the question of what motivates me to switch or stay: I want to make sure that no matter how shiny the new toy is, I’m going to get some real value before making any changes from what’s working today.

Thanks for reading!