SQL Server Data Retrival

[MMund]

In SQL 2005 SSMS, you can right click on a table name and select Open Table.
Our particular table has 1697940 records. After 15 full minutes, it had only retrieved 1.1 million, so this operation was terminated.
When you do an SQL Query on the other hand, and specifiy all the columns, it retrieved all 1.6 million rows in 37 seconds. Changing the Query to SELECT * also took only 37 seconds.
Is this an inherent problem with Microsoft SQL 2005 and SSMS?
Or is this true of all database products, and you should always do your own query instead of OPEN TABLE from the menu?

Thanks in Advance

 

[RiverGuy]

It's rarely (if ever) useful to populate a grid on a screen (especially a read/write grid like the "Open Table" grid) with 1.6 million records. If you want to see sample data in a table, consider using something to the effect of SELECT TOP 100....