Re: Call from Info World

Robert Treat wrote:
> On Thu, 2003-11-20 at 15:46, Josh Berkus wrote:
> > Bruce,
> >
>
> Here is the article:
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/11/20/HNpostgre_1.html
>
>
> > > Interestingly, in trying to think of a visible open source project that
> > > isn't controlled by a company, I couldn't think of one. Mozilla, PHP,
> > > Apache, MySQL, even perhaps Linux have one very visible company that has
> > > significant control over the project, while we do not. Is there a good
> > > example someone can think of?
> >
> > Perl, amanda, Python, OpenACS and LTSP come to mind.
> >
>
> Hmm... I don't see amanda, openacs, or ltsp all that visible to the
> greater tech (ie. commercially driven) community, and Perl and Python
> aren't really the same; there not a piece of software like postgresql.

Yea, I said Apache didn't fit the list, but I was thinking of Sendmail
at the time, which is controlled by Sendmail, Inc. (Talk about
confusing with PostgreSQL, Inc. Yuck.)

Anyway, Apache might be closest.

>
> > I also get the impression that there's been a significant split between Zend
> > Inc. and the larger PHP community lately (over Parrot, mostly, I think), so
> > Zend obviously don't "control" the PHP project.
> >
>
> Well... I don't know that I would say they control the project, but it
> does seem that php's advances are directly linked to the direction of
> Zend. The whole zend engine underscores the point, and I think that a
> lot of the OO stuff in php5 was "eagerly desired" by the zend folks.

Well, here is a quote from my PHP International conference report:

> I spent time with a number of folks at the event. One disturbing thing,
> without going into deals, is that the PHP development community seems to
> have every disfunction I can think of. That upset me because I assumed
> open source development communities were just all big, happy places, but
> the reality I now know is quite different. That scared me and I
> realized it could happen to PostgreSQL one day if we are not diligent.
> Sobering.

This "disfunction" includes being controlled mostly by what is good for Zend.

> The truth is that to be a "name" project you need to interface with the
> media, and the media is generally best at interfacing with companies.

Yep, but with our press release and contact, they seem to be able to deal with
our structured community too.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
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