The SQL Server natural order query myth

There is this myth among developers and DBAs that SQL Server has a natural order that is logical and predictable (and can therefore be relied on). Not so! I wanted to take a few moment to explain and debunk the myth, explain how VistaDB is different, and share something I learned along the way. The Myth(s) SQL Server stores entries in a natural order based upon the first column. SQL Server always appends inserted rows at the end of the current table. Unindexed data is always available in the order it was inserted. Dot Net developers often don't care about these things, but they should.