Re: beta testing version - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

I think this trend is MUCH bigger than what Postgres, Inc. is doing... its
happening all over
the comminity.  Heck take a look around... Jabber, Postgres, Red Hat, SuSe,
Storm etc. etc.
these companies are making good money off a business plan that was basically
"hey, lets take some
of that open source and make a real product out of it...". As long as they
dribble releases into
the community, they're not in violation... Its not a bad business model if
you think about it, if you
can take a product that is good (great as in PG) and add value, sell it and
make money, why not?
Hell, you didn't have to spend the gazillion R&D dollars on the initial
design and implementation,
your basically reaping the rewards off of the work of other people.

Are you ready for hundreds upon hundreds of little projects  turning into
"startup" companies?
It was bound to happen.  Why? because money is involved, plain and simple.

Maybe its a natural progression of this stuff, who knows, I just know that
I've been around
the block a couple times, been in the industry too long to know that the
minority voice never
gets the prize... we usually set the trend and pay for it in the end...
fatalistic? maybe. But not
far from the truth...

Sorry to be a downer... The Red Sox didn't get Mussina....

----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Baccus" <dhogaza@pacifier.com>
To: "Ross J. Reedstrom" <reedstrm@rice.edu>
Cc: "Peter Eisentraut" <peter_e@gmx.net>; "PostgreSQL Development"
<pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] beta testing version


> At 03:51 PM 12/2/00 -0600, Ross J. Reedstrom wrote:
>
> >"We expect to have the source code tested and ready to contribute to
> >the open source community before the middle of October. Until that time
> >we are considering requests from a number of development companies and
> >venture capital groups to join us in this process."
> >
> >Where's the damn core code? I've seen a number of examples already of
> >people asking about remote access/replication function, with an eye
> >toward implementing it, and being told "PostgreSQL, Inc. is working
> >on that". It's almost Microsoftesque: preannounce future functionality
> >suppressing the competition.
>
> Well, this is just all 'round a bad precedent and an unwelcome path
> for PostgreSQL, Inc to embark upon.
>
> They've also embarked on one fully proprietary product (built on PG),
> which means they're not an Open Source company, just a sometimes Open
> Source company.
>
> It's a bit ironic to learn about this on the same day I learned that
> Solaris 8 is being made available in source form.  Sun's slowly "getting
> it" and moving glacially towards Open Source, while PostgreSQL, Inc.
> seems to be drifting in the opposite direction.
>
> >if I absolutely need
> >something that's only in CVS right now, I can bite the bullet and use
> >a snapshot server.
>
> This work might be released as Open Source, but it isn't an open
development
> scenario.  The core work's not available for public scrutiny, and the
details
> of what they're actually up don't appear to be public either.
>
> OK, they're probably funding Vadim's work on WAL, so the idictment's
probably
> not 100% accurate - but I don't know that.
>
> >I'd be really happy with someone reiterating the commitment to an
> >open release, and letting us all know how badly the schedule has
> >slipped. Remember, we're all here to help! Get everyone stomping bugs
> >in code you're going to release soon anyway, and concentrate on the
> >quasi-propriatary extensions.
>
> Which makes me wonder, is Vadim's time going to be eaten up by working
> on these quasi-proprietary extensions that the rest of us won't get
> for two years unless we become customers of Postgres, Inc?
>
> Will Great Bridge step to the plate and fund a truly open source
alternative,
> leaving us with a potential code fork?  If IB gets its political problems
> under control and developers rally around it, two years is going to be a
> long time to just sit back and wait for PG, Inc to release eRServer.
>
> These developments are a major annoyance.
>
>
>
> - Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza@pacifier.com>
>   Nature photos, on-line guides, Pacific Northwest
>   Rare Bird Alert Service and other goodies at
>   http://donb.photo.net.