Re: On what we want to support: travel?

Robert,

> On a side note, this discussion seems to be turning into a TPC vs. Speakers
> debate, which is unfortunate, as there are certainly other items that
> should be in a discussion of things to spend money on, like software
> certifications and standards processes, which so far have pretty much been
> ignored.

Sorry, blame my choice of example.

To refresh, here's the list of everything we might want to spend money on:

1. PostgreSQL.org infrastructure (servers, bandwidth, sysadmins, SSL, etc.)
(unlikely to need money, but if it does, the highest priority)

2.a. Speaker travel to key conferences.
2.b. Membership and participation in standards and benchmark bodies.
2.c. Developer tools (hardware & software)
2.d. Performance/testing tools (mostly hardware & hosting)
2.e. Development of PostgreSQL code
2.f. Porting other OSS applications to PostgreSQL
2.g. Printing Marketing collateral for PostgreSQL (CDs, flyers, case studies)
2.h. Developing marketing collateral for PostgreSQL (hired writer)
2.i. Generally booth duty expenses for conferences (food, signs, internet,
etc.)

3. Commercial booths/pavillions at large conferences
(only if we have money coming out our ears)

I *think* everyone is in agreement on (1) and (3). Where people are arguing
is for 2.a-i, where people want to set some priorities.

Personally, I don't think that we can set any meaningful priorities for
categories of expenses in the abstract, which is why I'm pushing a "bang for
the buck" evaluation. However, a couple of people have pointed out that
we're still vague on what constitutes "bang". For example, what are our
comparative criteria for:

a) reaching potential new users at OSS conferences?
b) reaching potential new users in South America, Africa and Asia?
c) reaching "suits"?
d) reaching governments?
e) developing new PostgreSQL features?
f) improving standards compliance and certifications?
g) improving performance?
h) adding to the number of PostgreSQL OSS user applications?

If we have to compare, for example, sending David Fetter to a Venezualan
conference sponsored by the government where he will speak to an audience of
300 people against offering a prize to Joomla developers who port add-ins to
PostgreSQL, which "bang" is bigger?

--
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL @ Sun
San Francisco