Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Yep, this is illustrating something that is pretty basic to open source
> --- that is open source often provides the tools for a solution, rather
> than a complete solution. I often think of open source as providing a
> calculator with wires sticking out, rather than calculator buttons; the
> wires allow more flexibility, but they are harder to use.
I disagree. Open source typically provides the complete solution
too - just not from the developer who programs one component of the
solution.
Checklist writers intentionally use this to make straw-man arguments.
People used to say "linux doesn't even have a GUI" - noting that
X11 is a separate project.
Now people have database checkboxes for:
* a GUI admin tool (which we have, though it's a separate package)* GIS data types (which we have, though it's a
separatepackage)* server-side password filters (which we have, though LDAP, etc)* replication (which we have, though
manypackages)* clustering (which we have, though hadoopdb)
The Linux guys successfully communicated that it isn't fair
for checklists to compare an OS kernel against commercial
application suites. Seems it'd be good for the postgres
project to similarly communicate that the database kernel
is the core of a platform that's broader than just a
database kernel.
Ron
