Impact of a name change on third parties (was: The naming question (Postgres vs PostgreSQL))

Ciao guys,

I have thought that changing the subject of the reply was more
appropriate. I want to take the chance to reply to Greg too and express my
thoughts.

I think we are getting a little silly here. If the preferred project name is
>
> changed, nothing will _have_ to get thrown out, changed, etc. PostgreSQL
> can
> remain an acceptable synonym from here until the end of time. There will
> be little to no confusion - a simple FAQ item should cover it:
>

Well ... I do not consider it to be silly at all, Greg. That's your point of
view, but I am a bit skeptic and personally doubt that people would buy a
PostgreSQL t-shirt when a Postgres t-shirt is out there.

Also, pens with PostgreSQL on it when the database is called Postgres ...
let me say frankly ... are a bit harder to sell. And I do not feel silly at
all. Just pragmatic and practical. I have noticed that both the French and
the Japanese Users groups (two of the majors in the world) share the same
concerns.

The issue here is that we have invested time and money (I repeat) in
preparing this stuff to be sold and help self-finance marketing and
promotion both locally and globally and I believe it is not wise to change
the name with no proper campaign and time to get the most out of them in
terms of ROI.

As I said, I would much prefer "Postgres" as a name, but I believe that - as
every transition process requires - we setup an informative and transparent
campaign to let users organise themselves. It is more respectful that way.

I really respect the core team opinion, and if they thing Postgres is the
name to adopt, I will go for it. But I hope we allow at least a 2 years
period transition.

This will give people time to organise themselves and nobody could blame the
group for a sudden decision.

Also, consider this. In Italy we are founding the first Non Profit
Organisation for the promotion of the PostgreSQL database. We would need to
change it because it has legal impacts. Fortunately we are still in time to
do it, but other communities around the world, I imagine, are in the same
situation. At least in Italy, changes on the legal documents of an
organisation cost money too and need time.

My proposal is:

1) change the name to "Postgres" if the core team decides to do so
2) properly plan it in a two years frame (or decide a realistic release - 9,
10?) and promote it on the website and in every occasion (conferences, etc.)

PostgreSQL is not my ht://Miner project - I could change its name and nobody
would care! ;) - actually they would thank me for that!

PostgreSQL is a community product and it is not only property of the core
team or the developers or users communities. We are not alone out there.

IMHO, we need to respect third parties (both commercial and non profit) if
we want to stand up from a marketing and business point of view.

Thank you.

Ciao,
Gabriele