Will this forever hamper the adoption of the integrated CLR in the SQL Server world? Kline thinks not, the saving grace being that the line between developers and DBAs is much fuzzier than that of, for example, Oracle Corp. databases.

"The line s very firmly and darkly drawn between developers and DBAs in the Oracle world," he said. "With Microsoft, there are DBAs who are fairly good developers and vice versa. There's a portion out there that say 'No problem, I can handle it.' In shops where they're allowed to specialize a bit more, they don't have that skill set and are a bit more skittish about CLR.

"For those of us around when Oracle launched Java in the database engine, we wonder if it will be a repeat of that. Java didn't turn out to be a compelling feature. It could wind up going that way. My feeling, though, is that the developer community is so much stronger in the SQL Server world than [in the Oracleworld], my guess is that it will find a toehold."

At any rate, PASS will be helping to secure that toehold: The heightened integration between SQL Server and the rest of the stack will be a major theme at PASS' upcoming conference, Kline said.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.