Re: On what we want to support: travel?

On Friday 03 November 2006 11:27, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 02, 2006 at 09:21:30PM -0500, Robert Treat wrote:
> > We are a large project, but as large as our user base is we still
> > can't muster a better answer to the "Alexa 100" question than "uh,
> > yeah a bunch of them use postgres but we can't tell you who except
> > for these one guys who aren't willing to give any details".
>
> Nothing about going to conferences and speaking in front of audiences
> is going to change that. The people who use Oracle and DB2 would
> _also_ keep that quiet, if they could. If you read the license
> agreements, though, such users aren't allowed to be silent about it.
> We simply don't have the leverage to out people.
>

Going to conferences and speaking in front of audiences gives postgresql a
presence and introduces the software to more people. The more people who
learn about the software and the larger the perceived presence we have, the
more likely we are to grow the user base. Growing the userbase means not
only having more people who will be willing to discuss postgresql, but having
more people who are interested in talking to people about postgresql use.

> > To paraphrase Theo Schlossnagle at OSCon, "If you want to run a TB size
> > database on Oracle, you pick up the phone and you can call 30 people to
> > get help with your problem without a lot of effort. If you want to do it
> > on Postgres, you just can't find that level of public experience with the
> > problems you're going to face."
>
> But what makes you think, even for a second, that funding people to
> go and talk to audiences will change that?

As you and others have bandied about in this thread, it's all about ROI. Every
other database vendor puts effort into having a presence at various
conferences and they aren't doing it to hurt themselves.

> For instance, if the
> above is the problem you're trying to solve, why not fund educational
> materials that can be distributed online for people trying to run TB
> sized databases?

We're not going to be able to buy a solution to everyone's problem given our
current community size, and we're not going to grow the community size
without exposure and a good way to do that is by making sure we take
advantage of public events that that want to give postgresql a spotlight.

--
Robert Treat
Build A Brighter LAMP :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL