Re: 8.0 Press Release, Draft Two - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

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My critique of this version:

> August 24, 2004 - The PostgreSQL Global Development group today announced
> the availability of the landmark 8.0 version of the PostgreSQL ORDBMS.
> PostgreSQL, created in 1986 by UC Berkeley, is the most advanced open
> source database in existence today.  Version 8 is the collective work of
> over 200 developers.

"Hundreds" sounds better than 200. Too many numbers in the paragraph already.

"landmark" sounds a bit odd. ORDBMS should be spelled out, as should UC.

Actually, I would drop the whole "created in 1986" part - what does it
gain us?

"in existence today" is a redundant. Just "today" or "in the world"
or "available".

We might want to mention our firendly license somewhere in here.

> PostgreSQL 8.0 contains many new features that make the database a viable
> contender in the enterprise against the likes of Oracle and DB2.  The full
> list can be found at the PostgreSQL website, but some of the major
> features include:

Perhaps put URL with mention of the website. Lose "enterprise".

"viable contendor" is too weak of a phrase. "solid contendor"? "competitor?"

> Native Windows Support:  PostgreSQL now works natively with Windows
> operating systems and does not need an emulation layer.  This provides a
> big speed boost under Windows and makes PostgreSQL a viable replacement
> for Microsoft SQL Server.

Maybe remove "operating" from "Windows operating systems".

"big speed boost" is a little vague.

"viable" is again a little weak. Perhaps "allows an upgrade from
Microsoft SQL Server?" :)

> Savepoints:  Savepoints allow specific parts of a transaction to be
> aborted without affecting the whole transaction.  This feature, funded by
> Fujitsu, is valuable for application developers who require error recovery
> within complex transactions.

Should we mention the phrase "nested transactions"? Would that be familiar
to some people, or is that a PostgreSQLism?

> Point In Time Recovery: PITR expands the PostgreSQL enterprise feature set
> by providing the ability to recover data to the point of failure or to any
> transaction in the past.

"enterprise feature set" pretty fluffy. Would read the same to simply say
"PITR provides the ability..."

Maybe say "any time" in the past instead of "transaction"

> Tablespaces:  This feature, funded by Fujitsu, allows the database
> administrator to choose which filesystems are used for schemas, tables,
> and indexes.  This allows the administrator to place whole databases on
> separate disks to improve performance.

Is it really "filesystems"?

> Along with the new features come some new addins:

"addins" a real word?

- --
Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com
PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200408291846

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