And there’s news this year: The Madness Session will let the audience ask any questions directly to the speakers. I liked this idea. Everyone knows there will be time to ask their questions.

Another good news is the presence of Vlad Khorsun, one of Firebird’s current main developers. He will present two sessions. One on CTE (Common Table Expressions) and another on What’s new in Firebird 2.5.

There are two presentations by Dmitri Kouzmenko that you just can’t miss. On one of them, entitled “Database maintenance“, he promises to show different tool to monitor the database. Is he going to mention Sinática Monitor? I have no idea.

There are two other presentations from the Brazilian folks that caught my attention: “Database Structure and Organization for websites” by Maurício Longo and “Optimizing Firebird 2.1 queries using Execute Block and nested selects” by Eduardo Jedliczka.

This event is great and I do recommend. I was there last year and certainly I will be there this year. See you!

Along with the new Sinática Monitor 1.1 comes the new Sinática Online Store.

And please don’t forget our ongoing promotions:

• Discount to Beta Users. (it ends in less than one week!)
• Discount to members of the Firebird Foundation.

If you have any questions regarding Sinática or Sinática Monitor, email me.

I really believe that one of the ways to a stronger Firebird Foundation is by creating opportunities for members to receive benefits from their memberships. A stronger Foundation means a stronger Firebird, and that is to everyone’s benefit.

With that spirit in mind, and with much joy, today I announce that Sinática will give a 10% discount to all members of the Firebird Foundation.

If you wish to buy Sinática Monitor, email me your name and membership number (here). I will reply with the discount coupon you can use on the Sinática Online Store.

The conditions:

• You or your company must be a member of the Firebird Foundation
• Your subscription payments must be up-to-date (here)
• This discount is not available in conjunction with any other promotional offerings

In addition, there is no problem if you are not currently a member. You can join now and receive the discount in just a few days.

If you have any questions, please email me and I will respond immediately.

You may answer this survey about your experience with Sinática Monitor Beta and get a 20% discount in case you decide to buy the commercial version.

If you’re not using Sinática Monitor yet, download it now.

Here’s how the discount works:

• Use Sinática Monitor Beta for a few days until you’re familiar with it.
• Answer the survey and don’t forget to register a valid email address.
• The survey will be online starting today until 11/25/08.
• By the end of this period I’ll send a promotional code to each participant’s email.
• This code may then be used to get the 20% discount in the Sinática Online Store.
• The Beta Discount will be valid until 01/25/09.

The survey has 21 questions and takes about 3 minutes to be answered.