Re: High-Profile Advocacy Opportunity:VbulletinForum

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 17:27:44 -0600, "Scott Marlowe" <smarlowe(at)qwest(dot)net>
said:
>
> They have made their beds, let them sleep in them. I use phpbb and am
> quite happy with it. I supports PostgreSQL quite well. Another nice
> project that supports PostgreSQL is phpwiki. Both are well written
> projects. While they tend to focus on initial development of new
> versions on MySQL, they use abstraction throughout, and the PostgreSQL
> support is ready by release time, even if it has some issues during
> development.

Well, that's the problem, by deploying abstraction they ALLOW you to use
PostgreSQL but they don't take advantage of it's strengths. Or, indeed,
MySQL's strengths! What's the point? That's why I think we should
encourage applications to be built from PostgreSQL up. You encourage
people to code specifically FOR PostgreSQL by explaining that it's the
only RDBMS that DEFINITELY won't expose them to possible future
"shareholder value maximization strategies". Perhaps it could be
expressed along the lines of PostgreSQL having both technical AND
financial scalability - no matter how successful you get, no-one will
come knocking, looking for licensing fees.

> If MySQL were a better product, it might be worth paying money for, but
> it's not a better product than postgresql, and when it starts costing
> money, it's time to ditch it, IMnsHO/

It's not so much the money but, rather, the fact that, by building your
product atop someone else's proprietary, you are ceding control of your
work. I'm not saying that the current management at MySQL AB are bad
people but who's to say that vultures won't take over at some point in
the future - don't forget that SCO used to be highly respected.

As a simple matter of logic, you should never dilute your control unless
there's a highly compelling reason. That's why the BSD license rocks.

Donnacha