Re: [HACKERS] SAP and MySQL ... [and Benchmark]

On Friday 13 June 2003 10:33, Robert Treat wrote:
> This overlooks the fact that you can't earn credibility with some of our
> community unless you hack on the back-end. The uproar over the 7.3 press
> release was a fine example of what happens when the "advocacy" guys try
> to make a change to something non-technical that the "technical" guys
> don't approve of.

Well, a marketing team doesn't need credibility with the hackers as much as it
needs credibility with the users. Along that bent, the user-grade press
release should not appear on Hackers. Rather, a technical release-notes is
needed there, concocted by core.

In order to be credible, one must neither underhype nor overhype -- but there
is a correct mix of hype in there, because non-tech people love to be wowed.

And then we technical people need to let the marketing people do their thing,
with core keeping the marketing people well-informed of what the release will
actually do.

So I see a core marketing team having a least one person who, if not an active
developer, actively follows hackers and understands the technical details of
the coming release. That person needs to have enough development chops to
competently install and test a beta to see where it's going. That person
then needs to be able to translate the jargon into userspeak, and explain the
draft userspeak document to the rest of the marketing core, who can then
translate that into pressspeak for the press release.

The hardest part of this is the coordination of the effort -- first, making
sure the timing is correct, and second making sure the facts are straight.
This person will need to have a thick skin, because that position will get
complaints from hacker and marketer alike.

And the developers who are not marketers need to let them do the job. If you
don't want the marketer to interfere with development, then don't interfere
with marketing. But the two cores will need to closely coordinate. The
liasons between them will need to be able to work well with both groups.

I prefer the developer-driven style, but I do understand that the typical user
doesn't fully appreciate the fine points of the release notes. And we CAN do
a better job in communicating with people just how great PostgreSQL really
is. And that job isn't about facts, it's about impressions. Impressions are
more stubborn than facts, IME.

The current 'PostgreSQL Weekly News' is a great step in that direction, BTW.
I still remember my first taste of Hackers; I thought that things moved kinda
slow in here (because there never really was any meat on what was going on on
the website). Boy, was I ever wrong!

Getting the Linux, FreeBSD, and other geek news sites their press release is
just as important, but, that's a different audience who needs a different
press release. ZDNet and its ilk could get the mainstream release, with only
a link to the homepage. The geek news gets a meatier press release, with
links to the home page, downloads, and release notes. And Hackers gets the
release notes. One size does not fit all.
--
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11