Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL Global Development Group Announces

> > > It isn't, but those working on -advocacy were asked to help come up with
> a
> > > stronger release *announcement* then we've had in the past ...
> >
> > Consider that a failed experiment. PostgreSQL is driven by the
> > development group and, to some extent, by the existing user base. The
> > last thing we need is a marketing department in that mix.
>
> Ummm...I disagree. Lack of marketing is one of Postgres's major problems.
> Particularly when you compare against similar efforts from MySQL, Oracle,
> etc.

Yes, indeed.

The _prime_ reason for the fact that MySQL is the "M" in "LAMP" is that there
is a steady, intent set of efforts going into marketing the "M." People think
that MySQL is faster, easier to use and "more standard" than its alternatives,
and that is certainly the result of marketing.

The /real/ technical merit of MySQL has been that there are some integrated
tools for ISPs like CPANEL that make it easy for ISPs that don't know
/anything/ about DBMSes to provide MySQL for their customers. CPANEL doesn't
support PostgreSQL, and historically, it has been somewhat more difficult to
support large numbers of PostgreSQL instances on a web server. Some of that
has changed, though CPANEL /still/ doesn't support PostgreSQL.

If any of you consider these "technical" issues to be small and petty, I'm
afraid I don't /care/. More importantly, the hundreds of ISPs licensing
CPANEL don't care. /They/ are the ones that would need convincing, and I
don't think there's any real route to convince them that they should be
pounding down CPANEL's door asking for a PostgreSQL front end and to convince
them that they have to tell their customers:

"We sold you MySQL, telling you it was good for you to use. We were
wrong, and our new story is that you should convert your databases over
to use PostgreSQL."

Anyone consider that a likely scenario? Anyone?

It's fair to say that PostgreSQL doesn't need the likes of the "Database
HOWTO" that gives a sales job that's so blindly enthusiastic as to be, well,
blind.

But an organization that has /no/ "marketing department" is at a severe
disadvantage, like it or not.

It is unfortunate that it is almost impossible to have a marketing group
without there being some wilful blinders involved; it's vital for there to be
some technical involvement in the marketing group to pop whatever bubbles they
grow that are woefully wrong. But even if it operates with some occasional
lack of /real/ vision, it's necessary to have a marketing group...
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