RedHat attitude

Le Samedi 14 Décembre 2002 21:21, Josh Berkus a écrit :
> I don't agree with the Red-Hat-bashing sentiment expressed in this and
> elsewhere. Sure, RH did rename their PostgreSQL version *for branding
> and marketing reasons*. However, they are employing at least one
> full-time PostgreSQL hacker, and their "value-add" administration tools
> have, at this point, all been contributed to the community. Red Hat,
> regardless of their *marketing* decisions on what versions and
> alterations of OSS software they distribute, have *always* made the
> source available to their Linux products.

IMHO, RedHat is missing basic economical concepts :

1) The question asked is the notion of brand. What is brand, what is it for
and what does it represent?

* RedHat answer is "nothing", a brand is a "sticker on a box". This is far
away from PostgreSQL notion of excellence.

* People are looking for original brands, not copies. RedHat distribution is
an "original concept" because they invented rpm and worked together thousands
of software packages. On the converse, RedHat database is not an original
concept, but a pure copy of existing software.

* RedHat do not seem to understand that PostgreSQL is here to stay and
probably for a long time. Like the Rolling Stones, PostgreSQL developpers
will probably be here in 20 years. How long can RedHat stick to a silly name
like "RedHat database" ? IMHO, their invesment in the "RedHat database" brand
is a whaste of time and money, because it is deemed to disappear on the long
run.

2) Also, the question asked is the notion of "fairness", "written-unwritten"
rules and ultimately "violence" :

* Marketing a product which took XXXX man-year, only paying for one developper
salary, is a gift from the PostgreSQL community to RedHat. Employing a
PostgreSQL developper does not prevent them from being fair.

* The notion of fair/unfair is an unwritten rule. When you meet a Greatbridge
employee, who comes a long way by car, and annouce the same day that RedHat
will release a "RedHat database", without telling this Human Being that you
decided to do "Eye in the Eye", you also break the rule.

* Their attitude shows that RedHat management is probably violent. For those
who worked in severeal companies, you know what I mean : some companies are
violent, others are not.

* The problem with violence is that you never know when it is going to stop.
RedHat breaking the rules will probably end in a disaster for them if new
contrib software is released under the pgAdmin license. Candidates?

3) Ultimately, there is a chance that Redhat is not a violent company, but
simply have stupid marketing staff. There are some signs that RedHat database
marketing team is stupid :

* RedHat database is marketed like a food product, probably by
non-technicians, who employs "marketing recipies" without understanding the
underlying economical rules.

* There is a real problem with price. You cannot market an empty concept like
RedHat database at that price. When users understand they have been robbed,
this destroys the image of RedHat.

* RedHat does not have a real service offer (like database migration, software
engineering, etc...) and only concentrates on pushing (empty) boxes.

Cheers,
Jean-Michel