>>And by the way, the DBMS enhancements in SQL 2012 and 2014 have essentially eschewed the auto-spanning approach. They've moved in a very different direction for in-memory optimizations with columnstore and vector-based approaches.

I think you'll find I always said that if MS came up with something just as good for use in applications and tiers, I'd be delighted. Until then, autospanning carried value.

>>I've already admitted several times I was wrong on Hadoop and open source - why are you so unwilling to do the same?

If you're claiming that MS's database direction in 2013 disproves assertions years earlier about autospanning in applications, we can agree to disagree. Even if they were related, you only have to look at WP to see that MS no longer gets to declare how it is.

Also FWIW, I'm now using a Nexus 5. Wonderful device. Perhaps you'll recall my prediction that Android sales would continue to accelerate and that it was destined to become the one to beat? That's not why I chose the Nexus, though.