Re: Postgres v MySQL 5.0

Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> Joshua D. Drake wrote:
>> Peter Eisentraut wrote:
>>> Duncan Garland wrote:
>>>> How do you position Postgres against MySQL 5.0?
>>> We don't. We produce useful database software, and people use it
>>> or they don't.
>> That really isn't a helpful answer Peter. On paper, MySQL 5.0 looks
>> like a very healthy competitor to PostgreSQL. We all know that MySQL
>> 5.0 is still very immature in the feature set that (on paper)
>> compares very well with PostgreSQL. This individual obviously does
>> not.
>
> The question was how we position Postgres, not how it compares to MySQL.
> We haven't ever positioned Postgres. None of our development or
> release decisions are concerned with positioning.

I would disagree... I would bet many developers are very much looking at
the competition when they are determining what features to work on. It
may not be a conscious thought of, "We must have this because MySQL does
or Oracle does" but it definitely plays a part...

I would further argue that many of the features being pushed for 8.3,
recursive queries, bitmap indexes, rollup/group by, updateable queries
are the direct result of positioning either against Oracle/MSSQL or
MySQL pending feature sets. (Although more toward Oracle/MSSQL certainly).

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

--

=== The PostgreSQL Company: Command Prompt, Inc. ===
Sales/Support: +1.503.667.4564 || 24x7/Emergency: +1.800.492.2240
Providing the most comprehensive PostgreSQL solutions since 1997
http://www.commandprompt.com/

Donate to the PostgreSQL Project: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate