Re: "Too far out of the mainstream"

On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Andy Yoder <ayoder(at)airfacts(dot)com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I would like the community's input on a topic. The words "too far out of
> the mainstream" are from an e-mail we received from one of our clients,
> describing the concern our client's IT group has about our use of
> PostgreSQL in our shop. The group in question supports multiple different
> databases, including Oracle, MySQL, SQLServer, DB2, and even some
> non-relational databases (think Cobol and file-based storage), each type
> with a variety of applications and support needs. We are in the running
> for getting a large contract from them and need to address their question:
> "What makes PostgreSQL no more risky than any other database?"
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> Andy Yoder
>

Hi all,

I really don't want to waste your time too much on this - so please ignore
if so - but I have been watching this group for many years. There are more
than 26K emails in my inbox! You never hear from me because really I'm more
a Java guy (PG hides behind Hibernate here) - and in the end PG just works
perfectly forever on any dodgy customer PC we install on. So on this
esteemed group I'm no more than a novice, although I would claim much dev
and management experience.

FWIW, my comments on this thread are as follows ...
- The issue is one of "mind share" - MySQL has it, PG deserves it.
- PG desperately needs to have amunition available for this OP
- PG already convinces highly astute people who have time, knowledge, and
inclination
- PG misses too many people in influencial positions who don't have the
above

This mainly calls for ...
(1) to have a visible community
(2) to have endorsements
(3) to be seen regularly

So what to do? ...
- Every PG conference (or gathering, expo trade show etc) should be
expected to submit photos and a brief "story" of what went on. Who (half
famous or important) was there, what was discussed, issues of the day etc.
- "Rock stars" within or close enough to PG should be asked to write
endorsements. CEOs, CIOs, gun devs, consultants.
- Key PG people should be rostered to contribute one or two articles per
year to mags, sites, etc
- All the above should be posted on the website under the banner
"Community" or something.
- Anything more than 12-18 months old is trashed.

I'm trying to think of things that take 1-4 hours here and there.

Yip - I know I'm allocating work around where I have no right to do so, but
I think that these soft issues are as important as ACID and replication.

Anyway - nuff said - I'll return to my OutOfMemory exception. At least I
know the data is safe.

Cheers,
-Damian