Re: Linux User (& Developer) Expo 2004 - A brief account

Richard Huxton wrote:
> Held in London's Olympia centre, this was Tue/Wed this week. Attended
> by Oliver Elphick and Richard Huxton (me). We had about 2m of
> frontage on the outside of a small square called the ".Org village"
> along with KDE, BSD, Linux user groups, Scribus DTP package etc. Our
> place was sponsored by uklinux.net - a linux-friendly ISP.

Thanks for this summary. I've run PostgreSQL booths at two expositions
in the last 6 months and I can tell you that I've mostly experienced
the same things (except that we had better luck with the equipment) and
I totally agree with your thoughts about enhancements.

> Questions asked (in no particular order):
>
> Q. So how do pronouce [points]?
> If anyone has a time machine handy, perhaps we could change
> PostgreSQL to something people could say. On the other hand, they
> stepped forward to ask, so maybe it's a good ice-breaker.

Precisely

> Q. Why are you better than mysql then? (Not as often as I'd feared)
> Sometimes they obviously knew the answer, sometimes were genuinely
> curious.

Very precisely

> Q. Who funds it? Who writes it? (a couple of times each)

Never heard that one, though.

> Q. How do you compare to database-X?
> Mostly Oracle people showing an interest, then MySQL questions then
> MS-SQL and finally one Progress user.

Yes.

> Q. Can we do Y like we do with X?
> People interested in porting or looking to start a new project. Two
> main areas seemed to stand out - XML and Java. Unfortunately, these
> two areas are ones where Oliver and I weren't experts.

I've been telling people that XML and Java support are in development.
It seems to interest people at least. :)

> Q. Copyright issues with Oracle pl/sql and plpgsql?
> Q. How stable is it? How far can it scale?

Never heard those really.

> Q. Limitations/New features coming up?

That's always a tough one. Just talk to them about what you know best.
They won't check it anyway.

The questions I've always heard are (in this order):

1. What's the difference to MySQL?
2. What GUI tools are available?
3. How does one realize high availability?
4. Where does one get support?
5. What does object-relational mean?

Actually, what I did was I took a mental note about that at LinuxWorld
Expo in Frankfurt last November and this March at "Chemnitzer
Linux-Tag" I did my entire presentation about "PostgreSQL - Questions
and Answers" answering those five questions. After that there was
silence. :)

Slides (in German) for that:
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/past-events/chemnitz2004-slides/index.html

> 2. PgAdmin
> Easier to show people things with a GUI. Some were quite surprised by
> the sophistication of it.

When you show them the whole array of pgAdmin, phpPgAdmin, TOra, maybe
throw in the Visual Explain, everyone goes home satisfied.

> 3. Oliver's slideshow
> Less for any information people got from it, but it gave them
> something to look at briefly before making eye contact, or something
> to read if both of us were already talking.

Yeah, I had thought of a slideshow for LinuxTag. Good idea.

> 4. We were busy

Good. :-)

> Cons:
>
> 1. The stand looked empty and we didn't have any brochures.

I can maybe help you with some posters and brochures for the future.
The posters I have I kind of need myself and the brochures are
bilingual, but I can at least send you the designs and you can arrange
to have them printed. That's probably cheaper than shipping them
anyway. The brochures are especially nice because when someone asks
you about why PostgreSQL is better than MySQL you can point them to all
the items listed on the flyer.

Here are some pictures so you can see the posters in context (starting
at about the 4th row):

http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/past-events/lwe2003-pictures/

> 5. Six handouts covering each section in more detail - for
> reproduction in better quality and to be handed out to those who take
> an interest in that section.

Good idea.

> 7. Funding would be nice, but organisation is more important. We need
> news items before and after the show. We need to know what shows are
> happening. We need to make sure all printing is ready, and those
> involved have brushed up on areas they don't know enough about.

Most events are posted on the www.postgresql.org home page. There are
some posted right now.

> 8. We need an elephant.

Yes, everyone raid the toy stores and find that elephant!

Maybe some of the people from Britain want to come to LinuxTag in
Germany in June. Here is the event announcement:
http://www.postgresql.org/events/195.html