Nick Barclay’s Review

Nick Barclay from Australia has good things to say about my book “Applied Microsoft Analysis Services in Action”. No, I didn’t sweat blood, but I have to admit that writing this one wasn’t easy! It took me almost twice as long to write it as my previous “Microsoft Reporting Services in Action” book. For the most part, that was because Analysis Services is a focal point of many technologies, including OLAP, data mining, data integration, reporting, performance management, etc. Not to mention that, as Nick said it, it was like trying to hit a moving target because the product was constantly evolving on the way to RTM.

The other main factor for taking so long is that I just can’t write short. I am a firm believer that knowing a product is knowing its limitations. I usually put myself in my reader’s shoes and try to address all possible questions the reader may ask while reading the book. I am committed to point out not only the tool strengths but also its weaknesses (nothing is perfect, right). Of course, this takes time, lots of, lots of time …