Re: have you seen this? - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

On 5/27/2004 9:20 PM, Christopher Browne wrote:

> If PostgreSQL became as popular as MS-Access, we'd find people doing
> hideous things with it.  (Or, to be more precise, doing _even more
> hideous_ things ;-).)

Exactly!

The more "idiots" we make believe that we think PostgreSQL is the tool
for them, the more "idiots" will run this sophisticated crashme (doing
10,000 CREATE TABLE, DROP TABLE), or they run the 571st variation of
10,000 INSERT, 10,000 single SELECT over one connection "benchmark". And
this is not because they are biased, it is because that is the level of
complexity they are capable of. They don't even think there could be
something wrong with it, they are that simple. They do not need stored
procedures because what they do can be done in 5 lines of PHP code. They
do not need a view because there are only 3 tables in their schema. And
they do not need MVCC because the 24 site hits per day querying 8 rows
in their database wouldn't really benefit from it anyway.

However, when they "port" their "applications" to PostgreSQL, it'll
produce a lot of stupid noise based on ignorance and incompetence, with
the net result that they "stick to MySQL" anyway.

Nobody please get this wrong, there are a lot of serious people using
MySQL today who are in need of a strong and powerfull database system.
That is the reason why MySQL is tacking on features like crazy, features
they have ignored for way too long. But those people do understand what
we're talking about when we're doing it on the DBA level. We don't have
to get down to the database-baby-talk. In fact, I think MySQL AB is
currently talking exactly in that way, about 5 9's, NDB HA-clustering
"integrated" into the "MySQL database engine". This is marketing babble
directed at PHB's, bacause what they really "have" is yet another
loosely tacked on table handler. Sure, it's linked into the same
executable, but my understanding of "integration" goes a little further.
Anyhow, what they do is they talk to "our" customers, the PostgreSQL
users. They tell those who are waiting for replication and PITR that
MySQL now has referential integrity, and that the next version will have
multimaster replication while we are trying to educate dumbass PHP
coders that transactions are a good thing (tm). That their multimaster
NDB "sticker" is not integrated with the rest of the nice features like
foreign keys doesn't matter. They get the foot into the door that way.
And we all know that PHB's rather ruin a company than admitting to have
been pulled over the table by a sales guy.


Jan

--
#======================================================================#
# It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than for being right. #
# Let's break this rule - forgive me.                                  #
#================================================== JanWieck@Yahoo.com #