Re: Marketing PostgreSQL (was Re: Democracy and organisation : let's make a revolution) - Mailing list pgadmin-hackers
From | Jean-Michel POURE |
---|---|
Subject | Re: Marketing PostgreSQL (was Re: Democracy and organisation : let's make a revolution) |
Date | |
Msg-id | 200206261137.19538.jm.poure@freesurf.fr Whole thread Raw |
In response to | Marketing PostgreSQL (was Re: Democracy and organisation : let's make a revolution) (Mark Radulovich <radulovich@yahoo.com>) |
List | pgadmin-hackers |
Dear Mark, This is a simple and efficient battle plan, so count on my help. We need clear ideas and marketing goals. Personnaly, I believe indiviuals can take care of PostgreSQL marketing without the need of being supported by a company. Did you join PostgreSQL WWW Mailing List <pgsql-www@postgresql.org>? This private list is where PostgreSQL web site will be designed. Cheers, Jean-Michel POURE > I've been following these mailing lists for over two years, and I guess now > is the time to chime in. I agree with Tom that an organized effort is > necessary. As such, I'd recommend the following: > > 1 - Revamp the website. It's not bad, but it should be better designed to > highlight things for new users as well as all of the documentation that is > on it (I usually go to google instead of clicking around the website). I > think the basic site should have four key sections - Application > Developers, Database Admins, PG Core Developers, News & Downloads. > > 2 - Get a list of people who can help with benchmarking efforts. This > should be for magazines/websites that want to benchmark PG against the > competition, as well as benchmarking PG on various hardware with various > options. This could even start out as a simple "Benchmarking PG FAQ" > > 3 - Revamp the "Developer's Corner". I'm a web developer, not a PG > developer, but I still went here looking for info on building apps in Java, > PHP, Perl, etc that need to connect to PG on the backend. This is probably > a simple rename, but application developers need a more prominent area. > > 4 - Reach out and talk to authors & developers. We have a great database > here - let's tell the world. This can be simple - identify the major > magazines & web sites, rank order them by relevant audience. Then, make > sure we contact someone at each site once a month, and that they get press > releases via email. (email is essentially free, so why not send them out to > all the magazines/web sites?) > > 5 - Show off PGAdmin!!! You'd think it was just an afterthought when > looking around the web site. We should promote that as a great tool to > manage PG, so that MS users can get the courage to try it out. We can't > market it like MS can (unless someone around here dhas $40 billion lying > around), but we can sure make PGAdmin more prominent on the site. > > 6 - Improve the Windows port. I am convinced that mySQL is popular because > a windows user can download Apache, PHP, and mySQL onto his machine and > learn how it works. When he's ready, he can move to *nix. PG doesn't have > that advantage (no newbie is going to mess with cygwin setup on his Windows > 98 machine). Also, just because Windows is not an optimal database platform > doesn't mean we shouldn't serve it better - a lot of people (myself > included) cut their teeth on Windows computers, simply because they cannot > afford the time or money to learn another OS just to be able to use a > database. > > 7 - A simple thing, really. Can someone change the order of the months on > the mailing list archive home page? Scrolling down for 66 months, just to > click on the "by date" or "by thread" link for the current month just bugs > me. Whether this is possible or not, I don't know - I just wanted to > comment about it because I'm sure there are others with the same complaint. > > > Anyway, these are just a couple of ideas I have. I have used PG since 7.0, > and have been incredibly happy with it. As for any competition with MySQL, > so what? Let's learn from what they do better than us, and use that to > increase our visibility. > > > On a side note, I'd like to thank *all* of the people that have contributed > to PG. I started out in the open source database world with MySQL, but have > grown to love the reliability of PG. For the last several years, I have > been responsible for several MS SQL Server 2000 (and 7.0) servers. They > have an easy to use database, in that Enterprise Manager is almost as > simple as Access (no flames, please!). They also market the heck out of it. > I never knew that PG would ever be as easy to use - until I used PGAdmin. I > can only say one thing - WOW! (although I still use the command line - old > habits die hard...) Anyway, thanks to all of you for allowing me to play > (and work!) with such a great database. > > Regards, > Mark Radulovich > > PS - I'm willing to donate time to the website and the other items listed > above. > > ====================== > Tom Lane wrote: > > Josh Berkus <josh@agliodbs.com> writes: > Frankly, my feeling is, as a "geek-to-geek" product, PostgreSQL is already > adequately marketed through our huge network of DBA users and code > contributors. > > Well, mumble ... it seems to me that we are definitely suffering from > a "buzz gap" (cf missile gap, Dr Strangelove, etc) compared to MySQL. > That doesn't bother me in itself, but the long-term implications are > scary. If MySQL manages to attract a larger development community as > a consequence of more usage or better marketing, then eventually they > will be ahead of us on features and every other measure that counts. > Once we're number two with no prayer of catching up, how long will our > project remain viable? So, no matter how silly you might think > "MySQL is better" is today, you've got to consider the prospect that > it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. > > So far I have not worried about that scenario too much, because Monty > has always treated the MySQL sources as his personal preserve; if he > hadn't written it or closely reviewed it, it didn't get in, and if it > didn't hew closely to his opinion of what's important, it didn't get in. > But I get the impression that he's loosened up of late. If MySQL stops > being limited by what one guy can do or review, their rate of progress > could improve dramatically. > > In short: we could use an organized marketing effort. I really > feel the lack of Great Bridge these days; there isn't anyone with > comparable willingness to expend marketing talent and dollars on > promoting Postgres as such. Not sure what to do about it. We've > sort of dismissed Jean-Michel's comments (and those of others in > the past) with "sure, step right up and do the marketing" responses. > But the truth of the matter is that a few amateurs with no budget > won't make much of an impression. We really need some professionals > with actual dollars to spend, and I don't know where to find 'em. > > regards, tom lane > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup > http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com > > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
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