DRAFT: v7.3 Release Announcement

Good morning!

As requested, I've put together a draft proposal for this announcement
of the upcoming release.

This is clearly done with an advocacy based sales & marketing spin. It
follows sales.org's proven 6 'Power Opening©' steps (of course):
1. Who you are (PGDG)
2. What you're selling (PostgreSQL)
3. What's In It for Them (free alternative to commercial solutions)
4. Why should they believe you (third party quotes/endorsements)
5. Expectations (changes in this release, making it even better!)
6. Process (Where to go and get the code or more info)

Feel free to change and improve any of the content as you wish, I'm
not burdened by any ego issues wrt pride in authorship, even if you
decide to throw it out and start over ;)

--Geoff

-----

For Immediate Release November 1st, 2002

PostgreSQL Global Development Group Announces Version 7.3

PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database,
provides solutions for many of the most demanding applications in
use today, saving business and government millions of dollars each
year. The PostgreSQL Global Development Group proudly announces that
the "best is better again" with the release of the freely available
PostgreSQL v7.3 object-relational database management system (ORDBMS).

With more than 16 years of development by hundreds of the
world's most generous and brilliant minds from the open source
community, PostgreSQL continues to make the decision between free
software and commercial databases "a simple choice between open source
or an open wallet." Many companies and agencies can no longer afford
the high costs and constantly changing terms of licensed commercial
software - making PostgreSQL one of the most highly sought after free
technologies in the market today. With the release of v7.3 the
decision to choose PostgreSQL will be even easier.

Here is what some current PostgreSQL users have gone on record
to say about this technology:

"We believe that the key point relating to databases for the
.ORG redelegation is not which database the operator is using, but,
rather, whether the database will support the .ORG registry in a
stable, scalable, and highly available manner.
...over a year of experience...clearly demonstrates that the
PostgreSQL database used by Afilias performs at the level of
reliability and availability required for the mission critical
operations of a global gTLD registry."
Internet Society (ISOC)

"PostgreSQL has scaled perfectly with our rapidly expanding
business, and we recommend it over every other DB."
TrustCommerce, California

"PgMarket has been developed around PostgreSQL because of its
unmatched performance, features, price, and scalability. It is the best
possible database for enterprise e-commerce."
Fitcom srl, Italy

"PostgreSQL provided sales.org with a solution that was $70,000
less expensive to create, and over 70% lower in cost to operate and
maintain than any of the commercial DBMS offerings we looked at."
sales.org Inc., Toronto

"PostgreSQL handles virtually all the standard SQL constructs.
It is easy (relatively speaking) to administer, it is fast, it is
efficient, it has a great API, and it supports ODBC, why would you
choose something else?"
Mohawk Software, Massachusetts

"... selected PostgreSQL as one of the key components for their
solution, relying on the power and extensibility of the database even
under heavy load."
Vanten, K.K., Tokyo

Additions & improvements in Version 7.3 release include:

SCHEMAS
Schemas allow users to create objects in their own namespace
so two people or applications can have tables with the same
name. There is also a public schema for shared tables.
Table/index creation can be restricted by removing
permissions on the public schema

Drop Column
Now supports ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN functionality.

Table Functions
Functions returning multiple rows and/or multiple columns are
now much easier to use than before. The "table function" can
be called in the SELECT FROM clause, treating its output like
a table. Also, plpgsql functions can now return sets.

Prepared Queries
For performance, PostgreSQL now supports prepared queries.

Dependency Tracking
PostgreSQL now records object dependencies, which allows
improvements in many areas.

Privileges
Functions & procedural languages now have privileges. People
running these can take on the privileges of their creators.

Multibyte/Locale
Both multibyte and locale are now always enabled.

Logging
A variety of logging options have been enhanced.

Interfaces
A large number of interfaces have been moved to
http://gborg.postgresql.org where they can be developed
and released independently.

Functions/Identifiers
By default, functions can now take up to 32 parameters, and
identifiers can be up to 63 bytes long.

Along with many many more enhancements, bug fixes and
performance related changes from v7.2 ...

Source for this release is available on all mirrors under:
/pub/source/v7.3

More information on PostgreSQL is available on the project
websites mirrored worldwide through:
http://www.postgresql.org

A complete list of changes in v7.3 can be found in the HISTORY
file, included with the release, or available from all ftp mirrors as:
/pub/README.v7_3

Marc G. Fournier
Co-ordinator
PostgreSQL Global Development Group