Re: 9.5 Release press coverage - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy
From | Robert Haas |
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Subject | Re: 9.5 Release press coverage |
Date | |
Msg-id | CA+TgmobRoMy9KO3QrMNWwf+fTcm_4i8U6A3SSeEc6Aa5hTEdmA@mail.gmail.com Whole thread Raw |
In response to | Re: 9.5 Release press coverage ("Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>) |
Responses |
Re: 9.5 Release press coverage
(Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>)
|
List | pgsql-advocacy |
On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 11:48 AM, Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com> wrote: >>>> If EnterpriseDB is making false statements, then it is >>>> entirely right for people to be upset about that, but our press >>>> release does not do that. I have read that press release several > > This is a subtle problem. EDBs marketing people are smart. Worse still: they are getting smarter all the time, because we've hired some really great people. But I tend to view smart people as a good thing, not a bad one, even when they are working for some PostgreSQL company other than EnterpriseDB. I don't think I'd enjoy working in this community very much if it only had dumb people. I don't think I'd enjoy working at EnterpriseDB very much if it only had dumb people, either. > "EnterpriseDB® (EDB™), the leading enterprise Postgres database company, > today announced the general availability of PostgreSQL 9.5, released by the > Postgres community." > > It isn't false but it isn't sincere and I think that is where the issue is > coming from. I don't think it's insincere, and I think my knowledge of the state of mind of our marketing department is at least as good as yours. I have every reason to believe that they sincerely intended to promote the PostgreSQL release. > Robert, it isn't just companies. There is a pretty good general view amongst > the wider population that EDB == Postgres. I have even had people ask if "I" > work for EDB. I stained a perfectly good shirt with coffee when asked that. > From a marketing perspective I applaud the expertise. From an integrity > standpoint, EDB shakes on a thin stick when it comes to this stuff. I don't really understand this. Where exactly is the lack of integrity? You're saying that our marketing department is doing a good job, but if they did a bad job they'd have more integrity? If EnterpriseDB claims credit for the whole work of the PostgreSQL community, I agree that's wrong and bad. I agree that there are instances where that has happened either through intentional action or by inadvertency. There was one such instance in the CBR article related to publicity around this release. That was inadvertent, and it has now been corrected, a process that began even before the community began its vigorous demands on this thread. But if EnterpriseDB correctly portrays itself as a leading member of the PostgreSQL community and people hear more about EnterpriseDB than they do about other companies, that just means our marketing is working. EnterpriseDB has every right to do more marketing than other PostgreSQL companies are currently doing if it so wishes, and also every right to do less or none at all if its priorities change. Other companies have the same rights. Nobody has a right to have as much name recognition as somebody else has just cuz. To be honest, I'm not sure the disparity in name recognition is anywhere near as large as you seem to be portraying here. I think most people who care about PostgreSQL to any degree know that there are many PostgreSQL companies and who some of the leading ones are. It is possible that a press release from EnterpriseDB might cause somebody who doesn't yet know anything about PostgreSQL to learn about EnterpriseDB before they learn about other companies, but if that press release is written in an inappropriately self-aggrandizing fashion, once they do start to learn how it works, that's actually going to work against EDB, not for it. Tomas said more or less the same thing upthread and I think he's right: grandstanding is not a benefit to EnterpriseDB, or really anyone, anywhere, ever. So I *don't* think that our press release is inappropriately claiming credit for anybody else's work, but if it is, then I think that's first of all wrong but also secondly bad marketing that will come back to bite us. -- Robert Haas EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
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