I had a chance to read through a recent report on the Department of
Defenses use of free and open source software last night
(http://www.egovos.org/pdf/dodfoss.pdf) I think it's an interesting read
for those actively involved in promoting open source software. I suspect
it sums up the conditions in most companies in the US, not just the DOD.
The main reason I bring it up here is that PostgreSQL is conspicuously
absent from the list of open source software currently being used,
although I would swear I've seen a couple of emails come into the list
from folks involved in military work. Additionally, the report describes
MySQL as "...the world's most popular FOSS database. It is fast,
full-functioned, and precise enough to be used in both heavy load and
mission critical applications". Now I'm sure I am biased, but personally
I think PostgreSQL fits that description much better than MySQL,
especially in regards to being ready for mission critical work. Add to
that the fact that the DOD uses *BSD quite a bit, and (imho) I think we
provide better support for BSD and it confounds me as to how PostgreSQL
has been overlooked. Either way, we need to keep this on our radar
screen because one of the suggestions in the report is to create a list
of approved open source software for use in DOD activities. Should such
a list be created, we ought to be on that list. Again, this is not
really a call to arms (as afaik the DOD isn't looking for additional
input at this time), but something I think that is worth keeping an
eye/ear out for.
Robert Treat
