> My only aim is further progress of postgresql.
Charging for it would do exactly that. Most people would simply switch
to MySQL (or Maria) or stop upgrading/upgrade to a fork.
> As per Sun Microsystem’s case charging zero dollars (for Java and mysql)
> means there is zero income.
Why do you think this is a company? There _are_ companies that offer
support and coding. While I'm sure everyone would agree that developers
should be able to eat (and more/better than Raman), the point of the
"The PostgreSQL Global Development Group" and being "The world's most
advanced open source database" is not to become Ellison. The commercial
support and consulting offerings are there to make the money. The rest
of us plebs just have to help each other out.
Had PostgreSQL started out/never became open source, we would be having
a very different discussion (about a very different product, if it still
existed). As it stands, fundamentally shifting the goals, objectives, MO
of a libre and beer free software project to something other than that
is going to be met with a lot of resistance because it shifts how we as
users interact with something we've interacted with in a certain way and
with certain expectations for years.
> Emails are not the best medium for consulting about complex issues.
Emails are actually a decent medium because they allow one to express
themselves in a well thought out and clear way. It just has to be used
correctly (and I'm not insinuating I'm great at that).
I'm not sure who Farjad is; is this a serious proposal or "just
something someone said"? I feel religious about PostgreSQL as it really
has changed how I view databases in general (and you know what they say
about converts). Not that I matter, but I would feel a huge blow if I
could no longer tell people to use it.
Jim
