Thread: Re: Press Release -- Just Waiting for Tom
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 > Last-minute copy edits, please, people? Be careful what you ask for! :) Away we go... The names at the top should indicate what country each person is in, perhaps next to the phone number in parenthesis. The "Contact: " should be on its own line, and perhaps say "Contacts:" since it refers to both Justin and Mark. "the best has gotten even better!" sounds pretty dorky. I'd move "freely available" to another sentence as it is wordy enough already. "version" should be spelled out - those reading may not naturally know what v7.3 means. We may want to simply call it a RDBMS, as it will be more familiar to the press than the ORDBMS acronym. Tough call. The first paragraph should probably have a little more emphasis on ideas like "features", "maturity", "stability", and "powerfulness" and a little less on the cost/savings angle. > saving business and government millions of dollars each year. Should this be "businesses and governments"? Perhaps simply "saving businesses millions...."? The quote attributions should have some sort of delimiter immediately before them, such as a single or double dash. Some of the quotes have bad grammar (esp. the Mohawk one) but if it is a verbatim quote, there is not much that can be done. A period after "ODBC" and a capital "W" might be acceptable however? > The worldwide PostgreSQL community is very excited about this release, > which includes numerous modifications and enhancements thanks to the > contributions of 573 developers and thousands of volunteer testers > from more than 30 countries. I think an abstract number for the developers would sound better and be more truthful: "over 570 developers". I also didn't like the fact that my previous parsing only found 38 countries, so I did some more digging in the email lists and we can definitely say "over 50" if the number is including "testers" as well as "developers". I found: fi, pt, cl, hr, in, lk, sg, py, tb, and many others to easily boost the number to over 50. :) > "This is a quote from Tom Lane about the > new version," said Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL Core > Developer. Among the advances in version 7.3 are: The "Among" should probably begin a new paragraph. Maybe the Tom quote as well, depending on its length. > PostgreSQL now joins the handful of ORDBMSs to support The paragraph is good, but the "handful of ORDBMs" sounds awkward. Also, we should avoid English colloquialisms if possible due to the international nature of the site. Aside: "ORDBMSs" can be written as "ORDBMS's" - an apostrophe is acceptable usage as a plural when using an acronym ending in the letter S. > 7.3 has greatly simplified returning result sets of rows and columns in The product should be consistently referred to as "PostgreSQL" or "PostgreSQL 7.3", or even "Version 7.3", but not simply "7.3". > Oracle applications to PostgreSQL. "Oracle" will need a copyright symbol and a disclaimer on the bottom to be totally legit. > In response to community demands, PostgreSQL has added schema, > function, and other permissions and settings to increase the database > administrator's granular control over security. A bit awkward, but not too bad. > Other Enhancements > Version 7.3 also includes: The double indent looks a bit odd. Perhaps simply saying: "Other enhancements in version 7.3 include:"? > - Dozens of bug fixes and performance enhancements to maintain > PostgreSQL's leading position in ORDMBSs. This is the first time in this article that we have mentioned that we are in the "leading position" and it seems odd to throw it out here, at the bottom of the new features list. Also, the "dozens of bug fixes" implies dozens of bugs, so that could possibly be left out. > Source for this release is available on all mirrors under: > http://www.postgresql.org/pub/source/v7.3 This is a bad URL to give out. The URL as entered above into a browser returns a 404 error. (ideally it should return a list of mirrors and then redirect, but that's an issue for another day). In addition, the casual reader may not understand the concept of "mirrors". > http://advocacy.postgresql.org This should have a trailing slash on it. > A complete list of changes in v7.3 can be found in the HISTORY file, > included with the release, or available from all ftp mirrors as: > http://www.postgresql.org/README.v7_3 Same problem as above (404). In addition, the sudden mention of "ftp" mirrors could be confusing. Maybe we can redirect everything through the advocacy site? Linking to a page on advocacy that states the latest versions, how to get them, and links to the history file might be one way. > .. With it's long time support This should be "its"; it's is used only as a contraction. > .. triggers, and subqueries PostgreSQL Should be a comma after "subqueries" > is being used by many of todays most demanding businesses. "today's" should have an apostrophe. > Corporations such as BASF, Red Hat, Afilias Inc (managing the .org > and .info domains), Cisco, Chrysler, and 3Com rely on Afilias is a limited corporation, and should be written as "Afilias Limited" or simply "Afilias". The others have more official names (e.g. "Red Hat, Inc.") but the short names used above should be fine for a press release. > For more information on PostgreSQL, please visit > http://advocacy.postgresql.org. The URL should be on its own line, and include a trailing slash. Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200211171757 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Comment: http://www.turnstep.com/pgp.html iD8DBQE92CJWvJuQZxSWSsgRAj59AKCxE+gW6WmWICWDpIRJF91vzaaQbwCfRvHU P2T3tNVs1thi8WxXdq4LavI= =uOeA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 greg@turnstep.com wrote: > We may want to simply call it a RDBMS, as it will be more familiar to > the press than the ORDBMS acronym. Tough call. Except that Oracle is pushing more the ORDBMS perspective, aren't they?
Hi Greg, greg@turnstep.com wrote: <snip> > > saving business and government millions of dollars each year. > > Should this be "businesses and governments"? Perhaps simply > "saving businesses millions...."? "businesses and governments" is the way to go then. :) <snip> > > Source for this release is available on all mirrors under: > > http://www.postgresql.org/pub/source/v7.3 > > This is a bad URL to give out. The URL as entered above into a > browser returns a 404 error. (ideally it should return a list of mirrors > and then redirect, but that's an issue for another day). In addition, > the casual reader may not understand the concept of "mirrors". There is a "Download" page on the Advocacy site that has pointers to the 7.2 source tarball, RPM, and source RPM. This page will definitely be updated to point to the 7.3 versions at release time, so maybe it's worth pointing to that page, and therefore giving them further information (through the Advocacy site) to take a look at if they're curious? > > > http://advocacy.postgresql.org > > This should have a trailing slash on it. Why? Trailing slashes look awkward on domain names. Regards and best wishes, Justin Clift <snip> > Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com > PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200211171757 -- "My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there." - Indira Gandhi
Seems like this didn't go through so I am resending it.
--------------- Forwarded message (begin)
Subject: Re: [pgsql-advocacy] Press Release -- Just Waiting for Tom
From: Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 21:33:09 -0500
I updated the web version with changes as noted below.
greg@turnstep.com wrote:
>> Last-minute copy edits, please, people?
>
> Be careful what you ask for! :) Away we go...
>
> The names at the top should indicate what country each person
> is in, perhaps next to the phone number in parenthesis.
>
> The "Contact: " should be on its own line, and perhaps say
> "Contacts:" since it refers to both Justin and Mark.
>
done. not to sound americentric, but do we think it might be a problem that
we don't have anyone from the US in our contacts list?
> "the best has gotten even better!" sounds pretty dorky.
>
hmm.. it beat out the coolest has gotten even cooler and the 37713ist has
gotten even 37713er, have any suggestions?
> I'd move "freely available" to another sentence as it is wordy
> enough already.
>
> "version" should be spelled out - those reading may not naturally
> know what v7.3 means.
>
I'd almost be in favor of calling it PostgreSQL 7.3, but this needs to be
done in a uniform manner, so for now I changed it to version 7.3
> We may want to simply call it a RDBMS, as it will be more familiar
> to the press than the ORDBMS acronym. Tough call.
>
I actually agree with Mark on this one. It helps differentiate us from some
of the open source databases that call themselves an rdbms even though they
arn't.
> The first paragraph should probably have a little more emphasis
> on ideas like "features", "maturity", "stability", and "powerfulness"
> and a little less on the cost/savings angle.
>
>> saving business and government millions of dollars each year.
>
> Should this be "businesses and governments"? Perhaps simply
> "saving businesses millions...."?
done
>
> The quote attributions should have some sort of delimiter immediately
> before them, such as a single or double dash.
>
done
> Some of the quotes have bad grammar (esp. the Mohawk one) but if it
> is a verbatim quote, there is not much that can be done. A period
> after "ODBC" and a capital "W" might be acceptable however?
>
I left these alone since I assume they are word for word quotes; can anyone
verify this?
>> The worldwide PostgreSQL community is very excited about this release,
>> which includes numerous modifications and enhancements thanks to the
>> contributions of 573 developers and thousands of volunteer testers
>> from more than 30 countries.
>
> I think an abstract number for the developers would sound better
> and be more truthful: "over 570 developers". I also didn't like
> the fact that my previous parsing only found 38 countries, so I
> did some more digging in the email lists and we can definitely say
> "over 50" if the number is including "testers" as well as "developers".
> I found: fi, pt, cl, hr, in, lk, sg, py, tb, and many others to easily
> boost the number to over 50. :)
>
went with more than 500 developers and 50 countries...
>> "This is a quote from Tom Lane about the
>> new version," said Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL Core
>> Developer. Among the advances in version 7.3 are:
>
> The "Among" should probably begin a new paragraph. Maybe the Tom
> quote as well, depending on its length.
>
I was htinking of just writing in "Tom Lane could not be reached in time
for
this release, but a spokesperson for the core group said that "the source
code pretty much speaks for itself"... :-)
>> PostgreSQL now joins the handful of ORDBMSs to support
>
> The paragraph is good, but the "handful of ORDBMs" sounds awkward.
> Also, we should avoid English colloquialisms if possible due
> to the international nature of the site.
>
well, I think we are going for an arbitrary number that implies a msall
number. or maybe we can just say "the small number of ..."?
> Aside: "ORDBMSs" can be written as "ORDBMS's" - an apostrophe is
> acceptable usage as a plural when using an acronym ending
> in the letter S.
>
>> 7.3 has greatly simplified returning result sets of rows and columns in
>
> The product should be consistently referred to as "PostgreSQL" or
> "PostgreSQL 7.3", or even "Version 7.3", but not simply "7.3".
>
>> Oracle applications to PostgreSQL.
>
> "Oracle" will need a copyright symbol and a disclaimer on the bottom
> to be totally legit.
>
>> In response to community demands, PostgreSQL has added schema,
>> function, and other permissions and settings to increase the database
>> administrator's granular control over security.
>
> A bit awkward, but not too bad.
>
>> Other Enhancements
>> Version 7.3 also includes:
>
> The double indent looks a bit odd. Perhaps simply saying:
> "Other enhancements in version 7.3 include:"?
>
>> - Dozens of bug fixes and performance enhancements to maintain
>> PostgreSQL's leading position in ORDMBSs.
>
> This is the first time in this article that we have mentioned
> that we are in the "leading position" and it seems odd to throw it
> out here, at the bottom of the new features list. Also, the "dozens
> of bug fixes" implies dozens of bugs, so that could possibly
> be left out.
>
Does switching the order sound better?
- Dozens of performance enhancements and bug fixes to maintain
PostgreSQL's leading position in ORDMBSs.
I'm not against leaving out the bug fixes if no one else has a problem with
it. Do we think people will read the release and post to -general "Did
they fix any of the bugs in the system?"...
>> Source for this release is available on all mirrors under:
>> http://www.postgresql.org/pub/source/v7.3
>
> This is a bad URL to give out. The URL as entered above into a
> browser returns a 404 error. (ideally it should return a list of mirrors
> and then redirect, but that's an issue for another day). In addition,
> the casual reader may not understand the concept of "mirrors".
>
>> http://advocacy.postgresql.org
>
> This should have a trailing slash on it.
>
>> A complete list of changes in v7.3 can be found in the HISTORY file,
>> included with the release, or available from all ftp mirrors as:
>> http://www.postgresql.org/README.v7_3
>
> Same problem as above (404). In addition, the sudden mention of
> "ftp" mirrors could be confusing. Maybe we can redirect everything
> through the advocacy site? Linking to a page on advocacy that states
> the latest versions, how to get them, and links to the history file
> might be one way.
>
I changed the first two links but left the third alone. Actually I thought
it was wierd that we say to look in the HISZTORY file but the file we point
to is called README... Is there a valid link for this somewhere? If not,
can we just make a page somewhere that shows all of the changes in 7.3 and
link to that?
>> .. With it's long time support
>
> This should be "its"; it's is used only as a contraction.
>
world's = possesive form for the world so wouldn't it's also show
possesivness for it?
>> .. triggers, and subqueries PostgreSQL
>
> Should be a comma after "subqueries"
>
>> is being used by many of todays most demanding businesses.
>
> "today's" should have an apostrophe.
>
>> Corporations such as BASF, Red Hat, Afilias Inc (managing the .org
>> and .info domains), Cisco, Chrysler, and 3Com rely on
>
> Afilias is a limited corporation, and should be written as
> "Afilias Limited" or simply "Afilias". The others have more
> official names (e.g. "Red Hat, Inc.") but the short names
> used above should be fine for a press release.
>
>> For more information on PostgreSQL, please visit
>> http://advocacy.postgresql.org.
>
> The URL should be on its own line, and include a trailing slash.
>
> Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com
thanks for the feedback Greg :-)
Robert Treat
On Mon, 18 Nov 2002, Robert Treat wrote: > done. not to sound americentric, but do we think it might be a problem > that we don't have anyone from the US in our contacts list? No, why? > I was htinking of just writing in "Tom Lane could not be reached in > time for this release, but a spokesperson for the core group said that > "the source code pretty much speaks for itself"... :-) I talked to Tom about a quote today, and he couldn't think of a thing to say ... anyone wanna thing of a good quote that I can just agree to and you can attribute it to me?
On Mon, 2002-11-18 at 20:00, Marc G. Fournier wrote: > On Mon, 18 Nov 2002, Robert Treat wrote: > > > done. not to sound americentric, but do we think it might be a problem > > that we don't have anyone from the US in our contacts list? > > No, why? :-) It just seemed odd to me (that's my americentric side kicking in) but I couldn't come up with any actual reasons myself. > > > I was thinking of just writing in "Tom Lane could not be reached in > > time for this release, but a spokesperson for the core group said that > > "the source code pretty much speaks for itself"... :-) > > I talked to Tom about a quote today, and he couldn't think of a thing to > say ... anyone wanna thing of a good quote that I can just agree to and > you can attribute it to me? > Well, if anyone else from core (or heck, even some of the other highly active developers like '%conway') would like to say something we wouldn't be opposed. Perhaps Thomas can say something like "This release is so good, I didn't see how I could possibly make it any better." :-\ Robert Treat
On Tuesday 19 Nov 2002 1:18 pm, Robert Treat wrote: > Well, if anyone else from core (or heck, even some of the other highly > active developers like '%conway') would like to say something we > wouldn't be opposed. Perhaps Thomas can say something like "This release > is so good, I didn't see how I could possibly make it any better." :-\ Could come back to haunt us for 7.4 :-) How about "The only features we're now missing are Oracle's confusion of an empty string with null and MySql's interesting treatment of date/time" -- Richard Huxton
On Tue, 19 Nov 2002, Richard Huxton wrote: > On Tuesday 19 Nov 2002 1:18 pm, Robert Treat wrote: > > > Well, if anyone else from core (or heck, even some of the other highly > > active developers like '%conway') would like to say something we > > wouldn't be opposed. Perhaps Thomas can say something like "This release > > is so good, I didn't see how I could possibly make it any better." :-\ > > Could come back to haunt us for 7.4 :-) > > How about "The only features we're now missing are Oracle's confusion of an > empty string with null and MySql's interesting treatment of date/time" Like *that* couldn't come back to haunt us :)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 > not to sound americentric, but do we think it might be a problem that > we don't have anyone from the US in our contacts list? You sound Americentric, but it may be a factor that most of the press is in the US and may prefer an American telephone number to avoid calling internationally. Probably not a big deal. >> "the best has gotten even better!" sounds pretty dorky. > mm.. it beat out the coolest has gotten even cooler and the 37713ist has > gotten even 37713er, have any suggestions? "Ellie?" Obviously, you are not very 31337. :) The phrase is also in quotes, which makes it stand out even more. I recommend dropping it entirely in favor of something like: The PostgreSQL Global Development Group proudly announces the release of version 7.3 of the PostgreSQL object-oriented... [re ORDBMS] > I actually agree with Mark on this one. It helps differentiate us from some > of the open source databases that call themselves an rdbms even though they I agree also. If Oracle is marketing the phrase, all the better for us. [regarding "bug fixes"] > Does switching the order sound better? Yes, it does. [Justin] > Why? Trailing slashes look awkward on domain names. You are right, this is fine for a raw domain name. > I talked to Tom about a quote today, and he couldn't think of a thing to > say ... anyone wanna thing of a good quote that I can just agree to and > you can attribute it to me? Maybe we could ask Bruce? I think the only other issue is the "HISTORY" url. Can we put the list of changes on the advocacy site? Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200211191009 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Comment: http://www.turnstep.com/pgp.html iD8DBQE92lUZvJuQZxSWSsgRAlZhAKDx4IQZQB9BSqgmgfsNU9UCKUf46gCgiYRe J0m59n+zmU5SnCX9B3/Ivnc= =XKEc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Tue, 19 Nov 2002 greg@turnstep.com wrote: > Maybe we could ask Bruce? I'm trying to come up with something that sounds good ... hope to have something by end of today, tomorrow latest ...
greg@turnstep.com wrote: > <snip> > I think the only other issue is the "HISTORY" url. Can we put the list > of changes on the advocacy site? Interesting idea. Can't see a problem with doing that. Would having it be something along the lines of: http://advocacy.postgresql.org/releases/HISTORY make sense? With links to it from the Download page and... ? :-) Regards and best wishes, Justin Clift > Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com > PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200211191009 <snip> -- "My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there." - Indira Gandhi
On Tue, 2002-11-19 at 10:18, Justin Clift wrote: > greg@turnstep.com wrote: > > > <snip> > > I think the only other issue is the "HISTORY" url. Can we put the list > > of changes on the advocacy site? > > Interesting idea. Can't see a problem with doing that. Would having it > be something along the lines of: > > http://advocacy.postgresql.org/releases/HISTORY > > make sense? Just to nitpick, I'd prefer http://advocacy.postgresql.org/releases/73/CHANGES > > With links to it from the Download page and... ? > > :-) > > Regards and best wishes, > > Justin Clift >
Robert, Marc,
> > > done. not to sound americentric, but do we think it might be a
> problem
> > > that we don't have anyone from the US in our contacts list?
> >
> > No, why?
>
> :-) It just seemed odd to me (that's my americentric side kicking in)
> but I couldn't come up with any actual reasons myself.
We do need to have someone in North America, but as long at they're in
the +1 world zone, we can field press calls. So we do.
> > > I was thinking of just writing in "Tom Lane could not be reached
> in
> > > time for this release, but a spokesperson for the core group said
> that
> > > "the source code pretty much speaks for itself"... :-)
> >
> > I talked to Tom about a quote today, and he couldn't think of a
> thing to
> > say ... anyone wanna thing of a good quote that I can just agree to
> and
> > you can attribute it to me?
I'll do an open solicitation on Hackers. In case we don't get
anything, my suggestion is:
"This version has a lot of features that PostgreSQL users have been
asking for all year. Since we have so many great contributors now, we
may be able to wipe out our ToDo list in the next year."
... or something of the sort.
-Josh Berkus
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