Guy in a cube (@GuyInACube), Chat with Adam Saxton & Patrick LeBlanc on PowerBI

Data Podcast

"Guy In a Cube" is a youtube channel for Power BI, which is a data visualization application. Currently, Patrick Leblanc and Adam Saxton are producing contents there. Adam Saxton is just a guy in a cube doing the work! He is on the Power BI team, at Microsoft, working on documentation for Power BI and Reporting Services. He is based in Texas, and started with Microsoft supporting SQL Server connectivity and Reporting Services in 2005. Adam has worked with Power BI since the beginning, on the support side, and now helps to produce content for these products. In addition to documentation, he produces weekly videos for the "Guy in a Cube" YouTube channel. Patrick LeBlanc is currently a Data Platform Solutions Architect at Microsoft and a contributing partner to Guy in a Cube. Along with his 15+ years’ experience in IT, he holds a Masters of Science degree from Louisiana State University. He is the author and co-author of five SQL Server books. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for his contributions to the community. Patrick is a regular speaker at many SQL Server conferences. Interviewer: Rajib Bahar, Shabnam Khan Agenda: RB - Both of you make highly engaging contents touching on Power BI technology in your YouTube Channel. That channel has helped us learn concepts we weren't aware of. One thing I enjoyed was family-guy-esque randomness with video clips. Please tell us why you chose that format. SB - There is a video where Adam states the concept behind "Guy in Cube". Do you both share the same philosophy? Would you like to add more to that history? RB - What's the latest with Power BI Report Server? What was the driving factor behind it? It used to reside primarily in SQL platform. SB - Patrick showed us how to enable Cortana to connect with Power BI. That was a super amazing demo. What is the idea behind it? Is it fair to say the use case would be to broadly distribute dashboards so that they won't have to login to a specific site. RB - How is security different in Power BI as opposed to SSRS? Can you share few pointers about RLS aka "Row Level Security"? SB - Is RLS in PowerBI similar to RLS in SSAS? RB - Will the Power BI team prevent the issue that causes RLS settings to reset when data is refreshed? SB - Patrick, there aren't many dashboard-ing application that has native features to utilize SQL Server Availability groups. It makes Power BI stand out. For those of us who don't know or understand High Availability feature, please tell us what it's about, and how Power BI adds value there. RB - Adam, you have recently visited Israel to visit your team of engineers there. I have been to presentations by Arina, & Aviv on excel's integration with Power BI. Have you worked with their team? What kind of exciting challenges and insights have they given you? SB - Please share any interesting stories from one of the recent conferences you both have attended? RB - Are you both going to PASS summit or any other interesting conferences in coming months? SB - How do we connect with you on Social Media? Music: www.freesfx.co.uk