Re: The naming question (Postgres vs PostgreSQL) - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

Jonah H. Harris wrote:
> On 9/1/07, Jan Wieck <JanWieck@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I could get over it, if this topic as well as the ugly Postgre sh*t it
>> causes as a side effect would ever stop popping up. But it seems to me
>> however often we "get over it", the problem only submerges to pop up
>> again for the next release. Could it be that "getting over it" is kinda
>> like playing ostrich - AGAIN, and that the numerous times we "got over
>> it" only made the situation worse by reinforcing a mistake made long ago?
>
> I agree.
>
>> I suggest we someday stop "getting over it" and instead "get done with
>> it". Because rest assured, otherwise it'll be back again ... and again.
>
> Again, I agree.  Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it;
> a seemingly continual trend in the Postgres community whether it's
> feature or business-related.  Ignoring a problem does not make it
> disappear.

same goes for ignoring problems the move might cause - like we had
several of the large communities (french,italian and japanese) already
objecting for a switch like that hurting them.
And one other aspect is very much a problem too - we have WAY less
control over a number of key postgres.* domains (postgres.jp is not
registered, postgres.eu is registered to some weird place as is say
postgres.at or postgres.us).
And I suspect this is only the tip of the iceberg of related problems.


>
> Throughout this discussion, it seems like the majority of people
> against the name change, with the exception of those from Greenplum
> and EnterpriseDB, are those who have a financial stake in it.  And, as
> JD suggested that EnterpriseDB's brand could be strengthened by the
> name change, I just wanted to say that EnterpriseDB has never
> suggested, in any way, that its community members should support the
> Postgres name.  It is my own personal opinion that Postgres is a
> better name.

it might be a better name(or not) but a switch like that involves much
more than simply saying "oh this is our new name" - I'm fairly convinced
that playing games with our name will hurt us (and the active community
at a large) for a while in a period where postgresql is gaining insight
into a lot of places that it had not before and I'm not sure that
changing names after years of years of having another will give
confidence to (management style) people.

>
> I understand the valid concerns made by the Postgres user groups and
> by Gabriele Bartolini over printed PostgreSQL stuff like shirts and
> materials.  Trust me, it *will* be fine to distribute them until they
> run out.  Perhaps a lot of people here haven't been on eBay lately,
> because collectible IT stuff goes quickly.  No one will have a problem
> accepting a PostgreSQL t-shirt if the name changes to Postgres.

well those people invested a lot of personal time and money into all
that stuff (and I'm sure all that attended say pgday.it will fully
agree) and either way you phrase it it will cost them money and time to
come up with replacement merchandising.
This is time and money invested from people on there own pocket not
employed or supported by one of the dedicated postgresql companies or
being payed to work on postgresql full time so you are actually asking a
lot for here.


Stefan