On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:32:18 +0100, Jean-Christophe Arnu <jx@tuxfarm.org> wrote:
>
> My question is, how can I refine my arguments, do you have others
> arguments I can use? What could we say about responsabilities issue
> regarding to PG? How can I better advocate on PG -more generally- ?
A very good exercise would be to search for proof that someone
successfully took Oracle/Microsoft/IBM to court for losing critical
data in their database.
I'll wager that you won't find anything. And on top of that, the only
thing you might get back from the vendor is the licensing costs for
the software - which were FREE for PostgreSQL anyway! Don't forget to
factor in the effort that it takes to get your money back from one of
these vendors (a tremendous effort and colossal loss of time)...
Then ask about support. Are you REALLY going to get top notch support
from your vendor? Compare that support to what you have available in
the PostgreSQL community. Sure, you can pay someone for commercial
support if you want, but it certainly isn't mandatory like most
proprietary database systems would require. And most find the
community much more helpful and responsive than paid vendors, although
YMMV.
If this really boils down to risk management, then a commercial,
proprietary database actually incurs more risk - you have to pay for
the software in advance, you have to pay for support in advance, there
is little-to-no proof that you would be successful at recovering
damages in the event of a disaster.
In the end you have the same likelihood of recovering damages from
PostgreSQL as you have with the big boys (in other words, forget it);
and you have no financial risk up front as the software and support is
free.
There's my take on the subject,
-- Mitch
