Cockroach Labs celebrates the release of "CockroachDB: The Definitive Guide," co-authored by database expert Guy Harrison, Cockroach Labs co-founder Ben Darnell, and head of education Jesse Seldess, as a comprehensive resource aimed at making distributed SQL more accessible. Guy Harrison, a seasoned database professional, shares his journey from working with pre-relational databases to the current evolution of distributed SQL systems, highlighting CockroachDB's role in merging the benefits of relational databases with distributed database innovations. He expresses surprise at CockroachDB's feature completeness despite its relative newness and emphasizes the importance of specialized databases tailored for specific workloads, such as operational databases like CockroachDB and analytical ones like Snowflake, while noting the ongoing significance of graph databases. Currently, Harrison is exploring a project utilizing CockroachDB and IPFS, reflecting his ongoing engagement with cutting-edge database technologies.