Re: Oracle and Postgresql

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 11:35:30AM -0400, Jonathan Bond-Caron wrote:
> Harald wrote:
>
> > > If you are,
> > > it's an argument for security by obscurity, a system with a lot of
> > > deep known flaws.
>
> > That would be more the "Oracle stored procedures can be encrypted."
> > Which is an argument for ISVs, as they can easier force their
> > customers to pay "software maintainance".
>
> > With open code, clients could buy support from others, who may be
> > cheaper or, even more dangerous, more qualified.
>
> > As long as the disease of "Intellectual property" is running around,
> > that "I can encrypt my code" will provide some felt benefit for
> > PHBs....
>
> I have to disagree here. Encrypting stored procedures is not just
> about forcing customers to pay software maintenance.

Please to explain how you imagine this to be so.

> For us, it's about *protecting hard work and intellectual property*.

Yes, and of course nobody else does "hard work" either. Don't you
mean you're "protecting" this stuff by forcing people to pay for it?

> For example (very recent), we designed a fairly complicated
> inventory system using PL/pgSQL for a web platform. This customer
> is now looking into using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This customer is
> looking for quotes from other companies to integrate their web
> platform (pgsql) with the CRM.

What of it?

> What now prevents these other companies from stealing our inventory
> system and putting it into MS SQL server?

What would motivate them to port the code, document same, develop
in-house expertise, etc., etc.? You've placed the burden of proof on
the wrong side here.

> And better yet, using the inventory system and selling it to other
> customers? Luckily copyright offers protection, but as we all know
> some companies always tend to stretch the rules as far as they can.

Copyright and contract law are precisely where you're going to be
fighting these battles anyhow, and that's why if you insist on this
kind of stuff, you hire attorneys with a good track record instead of
taking the fundamentally broken approach of obfuscating your code.

> For me, "Oracle stored procedures can be encrypted." is a very real
> and valuable argument.

It speaks to your judgement, and not favorably.

> It would certainly be a valuable feature in pgsql (in the enterprise
> space).

If by "enterprise" you mean "bloated and buggy," I quite agree.

Cheers,
David.
--
David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Yahoo!: dfetter
Skype: davidfetter XMPP: david(dot)fetter(at)gmail(dot)com

Remember to vote!
Consider donating to Postgres: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate