> Next month I'll be making a presentation about Postgres to a SQL
> Server crowd in L.A. at their SQL Saturday event.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has any tips that are specific for SQL
> Server users? Best features? Known issues? Common rebuttals?
PosgreSQL is more than a "database", it's more of an ecosystem. The
combination of open source,well-described interfacs, and simplicity
of "create extension" allows us all to develop and add features,
functionality to PG. One example: "exclude using gist" with
timestamp ranges make time-series databases nearly trivial. PostGIS
is another.
Another is that PG is written and developed by people who actually
use it. Wander through psql: things like \gset and \gexec with
format() make introspective tasks quite doable with SQL.
pgadmin is another nice "addon" that exists partly because PG was
designed from the ground up to support external access. Hell, throw
in EnterpriseDB if you want even more addons; there aren't third-
party SQL Server support distributions (I'm a capatilist: competition
can be Good Thing).
However much people rag on it, a *tunable* vacuum system is quite
helpful. The "I don't to worry about that with <other DB>" starts
to fall apart when the system starts unncessary cleanups in the
middle of a large daily dump... Being able to control the process
makes it a whole lot easier to forget.
Foreign Data Wrappers are a nice feature, the byproduct of a system
that was designed for open access. Instead of waiting for MS to
decide that any one external resource is profitable, we have quite a
few quite usable interfaces that support what people need.
The combination of extensions and FDW also gives companies to add
whatever they need when they need it. If anyone tells you that "X
isn't available in PG" the simplest answer is "Fine, then add it!"
For the cost of a MS product license you can pay someone to write
whatever you want as an extension or special-purpose FDW. Pay them
for support and you can have whatever you need.
Which gets back to the ecosystem: The PG *product* includes a level
of flexability not available in SQL Server -- or Oracle for that
matter. SQL Server was heavily influenced by Sybase, which was based
on Ingres, which worked because it was an open, flexible platform.
Maybe you could just tell them PG gives them the chance to evolve
full-circle :-)
--
Steven Lembark 3920 10th Ave South
Workhorse Computing Birmingham, AL 35222
lembark@wrkhors.com +1 888 359 3508
