Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL Global Development Group

Oliver Elphick wrote:

> If we want people to use PostgreSQL in preference to anything else, we
> have to make it known. That is marketing. If we believe we have a good
> product we need to say so and say why and how it's better, cheaper and
> purer than anything else. If there's no good marketing, bad marketing
> will rule the world for sure.
>
> If we don't care, we can retreat into a pure technological huddle and
> disappear up our own navels. The rest of the world won't even notice.
> Such purity will eventually destroy the project because it will lose the
> momentum for growth through a lack of new input. You can grow or you
> can decline; a steady state is almost impossible to achieve.

Couldn't agree more with that last point.

I've had the perspective of working in big companies using various database software, a company specifically focused on PostgreSQL (Great Bridge), and now a new ISV with PostgreSQL underneath a vertical application (OpenMFG). I can tell you that even though the pgsql-hacker community is as strong as it's ever been, I think there's a serious danger of the larger world passing PostgreSQL by.

Oracle and DB2 continue to get better and - significantly - cheaper, and SQL Server ... well, Oracle and DB2 are getting better. MySQL, even though it's an inferior product for most real database work, has always had a significantly larger installed base than PostgreSQL- and it's less controversial for people like Sun (who have deep relationships with Oracle) to get involved with. And despite the productizing of RHDB, Red Hat doesn't seem interested in making a real push for PostgreSQL either. While there are a number of smaller companies trying to help out, I think it's clear that the burden for helping PostgreSQL to find wider acceptance in the marketplace will be on the pgsql-hacker community for some time to come.

I applaud the efforts of the advocacy group, and encourage others here not to look at the marketing as somehow dirty or beneath the dignity of the project.

Keep up the good work,
Ned