Moving to -advocacy, bcc to -hackers.
On Fri, May 19, 2006 at 08:11:42AM -0700, Joshua D. Drake wrote:
> When MySQL is at that
> >point, which database do you think executives will be choosing? The one
> >with a very large userbase and lots of marketing and PR that they've
> >heard plenty about,
>
> All due respect, Jim -- but don't you work for a publicly traded
> database company that happens to have its own version of PostgreSQL?
Actually, we haven't had a distribution of PostgreSQL since 8.0.3, and
even then it was only a distribution; the bits were all community.
> This is really a discussion for your marketing (and mine frankly) then
> the PostgreSQL mailing lists :)
Yes and no... should MySQL eventually become popular enough that there's
little use of PostgreSQL that hurts the community just as much as it
hurts our companies. In fact, I'd say it's already hurting the community
more than our companies; look at how many people lament about running
software XYZ because it only supports MySQL. Or about trying to find
PostgreSQL hosting providers.
But yes, the group of PostgreSQL companies should also be working to
raise awareness of PostgreSQL as a very viable OSS database.
Unfortunately, a lot of the commercial interest is in the higher-end
market. And to a large extent, this really needs to be a grass-roots
effort. After all, you don't win OSS mindshare by taking out ads or
anything like that. So I think this really needs to be a joint venture
between companies and the community.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant jnasby@pervasive.com
Pervasive Software http://pervasive.com work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf cell: 512-569-9461
