Survey results from the PostgreSQL portal page

Hi everyone,

Dave Page put up a new survey on the PostgreSQL portal page very
recently, " What would attract the most new PostgreSQL users?" and the
results in already are interesting (1,529 results as this is being written):

http://www.postgresql.org/survey.php?SurveyID=9

Listed from most voted for to least voted for we have:

***********

Answer Responses Percentage

More speed 505 33.028%
Win32 Port 390 25.507%
Replication 386 25.245%
Better docs 160 10.464%
More features 32 2.093%
Better marketing 29 1.897%
Better migration 18 1.177%
PITR 9 0.589%

Total number of responses: 1529

***********

Now, we don't necessarily have a speed problem, as people who take the
time to tune the database can attest to, so this is making me consider
why such a large percentage of folk would vote for that.

The possibilities that come to mind immediately are:

+ People don't know that they should tune the database, and are
leaving the configuration settings at the defaults.

We could adjust the perception of PostgreSQL's speed for these
people by adjusting the default settings. We were already
considering raising the memory buffer defaults weren't we?

+ People are having troubles related to VACUUM.

This is being worked on presently isn't it?

+ People don't know *how* to tune the database properly yet?

+ Maybe we need more inbuilt self-tuning abilities or utilities for
PostgreSQL?

Other interesting conclusions can be drawn from the results too, one of
which is that only about 2% of people are asking for more features, and
also that only about 2% are looking for better marketing.

Anyway, thought this worth bringing to people's attention, as we may
find some value in it.

:-)

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift

--
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."
- Indira Gandhi