Re: Feedback from LinuxWorld, London

On Mon, 2005-10-10 at 10:32 -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:

> First off, Simon, could you look at the Press FAQ to see if there's
> anything missing based on your experience at LWE-SF?
> http://pgfoundry.org/docman/view.php/1000047/26/press_faq.xhtml

The press FAQ says:

Q: How does PostgreSQL compare to MySQL?
A: This is a topic that can start several hours of discussion. As a
quick summary, MySQL is the "popular, easy-to-use" database, and
PostgreSQL is the "feature-rich, standards-compliant" database. Beyond
that, each database user should make their own evaluation; open source
software makes doing your own comparison very easy.

General comments, not to Josh who does a thankless task well:

The FAQ is correct, it does cause hours of discussion. This topic took
approximately 6 man hours of detailed technical discussion. It also hits
the nail on the head: how do you make your own comparison when you don't
know what to look for? when you don't know enough about databases to
try?

It would be useful to have a link directly from the main PostgreSQL
homepage to some information for the following:
1. how many awards PostgreSQL has won and what other people have said
about the MySQL v PostgreSQL debate.
2. how we stack up against MySQL. If you don't say it, people think
there's nothing to say
3. what replication solutions are available - "High Availability"

IMHO you either say them yourself, or place yourself in the hands of a
an average 3 minute search on Google. Nothing useful found => default
answer of "they sound the same, lets go with the market leader".

We don't need to go for weasel words, but a slowly developing section of
direct competitive information is important. Maybe thousands of people
will disagree with what is said there, but that doesn't stop it being
worth saying by *this* project.

I've got no axe to grind against MySQL, but the projects produce two
distinct database systems with different objectives and use cases.

Best Regards, Simon Riggs