My job is divided between SQL and SharePoint consulting. This week I am doing lots of SQL work with SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition.
Something I have noticed in this edition is that the SQL Server Management Studio does not seem to hide the functionality I don't have. There are all kinds of Enterprise-only features, such as Backup Compression, Encryption, and Auditing, which appear to be available in the GUI– even though Standard Edition can't use them. So since I don't have the entire feature set for SQL 2008 memorized, I see these GUI options and think "Cool! I can compress my database backups!"
Here is the problem: Even though I have SQL Server Standard Edition, this is an Enterprise-only feature, so it shoudn't be selectable. It should be at least grayed out. But the GUI allows you to select these options, whereupon it produces big, ugly, embarassing errors. Embarassing, because it makes me look dumb to my customer. Here I had told them I could compress their backups and SQL Server makes a liar of me. The aforementioned backup job, for example, simply fails with an error: "Compression is not available in this edition, you cretin. RTFM!". Why fail with an error here? Why not simply issue a warning that compression is disabled, and finish the backup? It's not just annoying, it actually thwarts my DR plan. If I had not returned to check the backups, the customer might have missed days of them.
So if that wasn't bad enough, I told the customer that we could enable auditing of his databases. I had even opened the dialogs and made some selections without saving them, leading me to believe the feature was active. But after the customer gave me the go-ahead, I went to create one, clicked OK, and got this message:
"Auditing is not available in this edition of SQL Server. For more information about feature support in the editions of SQL Server, see SQL Server Books Online. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 33075). RTFM, Moron! Buy Enterprise!"
Oh yeah, I was pissed. You see, I have some background in programming, and I've studied User Interface Design. And I have to tell you that the typical user–while not especially bright–has certain expectations. One expectation is that I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO COMMIT AN ACTION TO FIND OUT WHETHER IT IS AVAILABLE OR NOT.
Compare this to SharePoint's Security Trimming feature, where a user won't be able to see things they don't have access to. It was such an annoyance in SPS 2003, where a user would be shown links and content that produced an Access Denied error when clicked upon. Security Trimming is such a useful feature that I design my portals around it. It's great!
So why, all of a sudden, does the latest version of SQL Server ignore this principle? I don't remember SQL 2005 having this issue. It is really, really annoying.