Re: Oracle and Postgresql

On Sunday 31 August 2008, Christophe wrote:
> On Aug 31, 2008, at 7:44 PM, Guy Rouillier wrote:
> > CTOs/CIOs like to sleep at night.
>
> If you buy Oracle, and there's a problem, the conversation with the
> CEO is that "Oracle broke." With PG, even if you have exactly the
> same level of support, "that database you selected broke."
>
> The sad reality is that choosing something with a high industry
> presence makes it easier to offload blame for failures, especially
> when dealing with non-technical management.

Sadly I can second that. I've seen quite some companies go with a completely
inappropriate product, just because "they're the market leader". And
certainly there is the other side of the coin: The CTO who decides doesn't
want anyone to rock his boat. So often s/he decides to go with biggest market
presence, simply because IF something breaks it's not their fault - the
argument being "we went with the best there is, it's their fault". (maybe
it's the "best there is", but often not for the application in question).

I've got one customer who didn't care - they're running on postgresql for 8
years now and nobody noticed - hehehe. I just told the CEO "it's a SQL
database" - which satisfied his curiosity :-)
But that's certainly not the case with everyone...

Uwe