Hey guys,
Thats a great point Robert, and I have to agree with you.
Postgres is by far my favorite open-source RDBMS system, and is the most
capable I have found. The community is also perhaps the most vibrant I have
seen. If you ask any question you will have an answer in 6 minutes flat.
Its great.
That being said, the lack of a native Windows version puts it at a distinct
disadvantage when trying to gain access to new markets. A key area in which
postgres could compete very favorably is among the "Access crowd" - the
people who get that "free" database with the version of Office that comes on
their new computers and then proceed to build their small businesses around
it. (I mean free in the sense that they are already paying for Word and
Excel, and in their eyes it is a part of the package) Access has nowhere
near the functionality of Postgres, but it is "good enough" to put together
a couple tables and forms to fill them out. User-interface issues aside,
Postgres would be a great replacement for Access since it could scale much
better, and has a very appealing price point. The only thing holding it
back is the lack of a native windows version and inability to be installed
by people who don't know POSIX from a fine clam sauce.
Taking this from another angle, Postgres (with its relatively small
footprint and robust features) could be a perfect embedded database for
complex client applications, such as integrated CRM packages or fat clients
for large distributed applications. The fact that the database can play
with virtually any language only makes this more salient. Again, the lack
of ability to deploy seemlessly on a microsoft platform is an issue in this
area, since this little monopoly thing isn't going away anytime soon.
Being in the same position as Robert, (not an active developer in the
program) I can only offer this as advice at the moment, to be taken as it
will. I'm curious to know, however, if there are any attempts out there to
develop an abstraction layer for postgres or to port it to windows natively.
From a commercial standpoint, these would be great projects to rally
behind. While it may seem like a waste of resources for an open source
project, more cross-platform capabilities = more users, more users = more
commercial developers, more commercial developers = more resources, and more
resources = more developement on Postgres itself. It's the gift that keeps
on giving!
None of this shouldn't be taken as a criticism. PostgreSQL is the best
database out there for developers looking for a stable, fast, and expanding
environment to build quick and flexible applications. It's in a great
position to make a major impact in the industry.
Just a thought.
Regards
Mike
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