Re: 9.5 Release press coverage

On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 11:48 AM, Joshua D. Drake <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com> wrote:
>>>> If EnterpriseDB is making false statements, then it is
>>>> entirely right for people to be upset about that, but our press
>>>> release does not do that. I have read that press release several
>
> This is a subtle problem. EDBs marketing people are smart.

Worse still: they are getting smarter all the time, because we've
hired some really great people. But I tend to view smart people as a
good thing, not a bad one, even when they are working for some
PostgreSQL company other than EnterpriseDB. I don't think I'd enjoy
working in this community very much if it only had dumb people. I
don't think I'd enjoy working at EnterpriseDB very much if it only had
dumb people, either.

> "EnterpriseDB® (EDB™), the leading enterprise Postgres database company,
> today announced the general availability of PostgreSQL 9.5, released by the
> Postgres community."
>
> It isn't false but it isn't sincere and I think that is where the issue is
> coming from.

I don't think it's insincere, and I think my knowledge of the state of
mind of our marketing department is at least as good as yours. I have
every reason to believe that they sincerely intended to promote the
PostgreSQL release.

> Robert, it isn't just companies. There is a pretty good general view amongst
> the wider population that EDB == Postgres. I have even had people ask if "I"
> work for EDB. I stained a perfectly good shirt with coffee when asked that.
> From a marketing perspective I applaud the expertise. From an integrity
> standpoint, EDB shakes on a thin stick when it comes to this stuff.

I don't really understand this. Where exactly is the lack of
integrity? You're saying that our marketing department is doing a
good job, but if they did a bad job they'd have more integrity? If
EnterpriseDB claims credit for the whole work of the PostgreSQL
community, I agree that's wrong and bad. I agree that there are
instances where that has happened either through intentional action or
by inadvertency. There was one such instance in the CBR article
related to publicity around this release. That was inadvertent, and
it has now been corrected, a process that began even before the
community began its vigorous demands on this thread. But if
EnterpriseDB correctly portrays itself as a leading member of the
PostgreSQL community and people hear more about EnterpriseDB than they
do about other companies, that just means our marketing is working.
EnterpriseDB has every right to do more marketing than other
PostgreSQL companies are currently doing if it so wishes, and also
every right to do less or none at all if its priorities change. Other
companies have the same rights. Nobody has a right to have as much
name recognition as somebody else has just cuz.

To be honest, I'm not sure the disparity in name recognition is
anywhere near as large as you seem to be portraying here. I think
most people who care about PostgreSQL to any degree know that there
are many PostgreSQL companies and who some of the leading ones are.
It is possible that a press release from EnterpriseDB might cause
somebody who doesn't yet know anything about PostgreSQL to learn about
EnterpriseDB before they learn about other companies, but if that
press release is written in an inappropriately self-aggrandizing
fashion, once they do start to learn how it works, that's actually
going to work against EDB, not for it. Tomas said more or less the
same thing upthread and I think he's right: grandstanding is not a
benefit to EnterpriseDB, or really anyone, anywhere, ever. So I
*don't* think that our press release is inappropriately claiming
credit for anybody else's work, but if it is, then I think that's
first of all wrong but also secondly bad marketing that will come back
to bite us.

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company