Re: [HACKERS] What can we learn from MySQL?

Dear Tim,

These are execellent proposals. My only remark would be to build a
step-by-step approach.

In a first stage, we could set-up a minimal web page for the Win32 port:
- PostgreSQL Win32 installer (possibly translated),
- translation of the web page in 40 languages,
- step-by-step installation under Win32 (screenshots),
- links (NLS project, documentation),

... advertise (example: http://www.pgadmin.org/pgadmin3/advocacy.php) and
start monitoring downloads.

With PostgreSQL Win32 version and looking at pgAdmin III statistics, reaching
one million downloads every month seems a reasonable target. PostgreSQL is
such a wonderful community project that there is no need to build complex
marketing strategies to reach impressive goals.

In a second stage, we can start building a rich web site (as you proposed) and
make it live on the long run.

Best regards,
Jean-Michel

> I've been sort-of reading this thread off and on, so this may
> contain duplicate suggestions.
>
> I was researching an article I wrote about a comparison between
> Postgres and MySQL recently (If you want, you can read the article
> at http://www.devx.com/dbzone/Article/20743/). I noticed some clear
> differences between the mysql.com website and the Postgres website.
>
> 1) Since MySQL AB supports and trains for MySQL, there's loads of
> training information available on their website. On the other
> hand, I had a hard time finding training information for Postgres
> in general. Same goes for support. It's easier to find, but it's
> still somewhat convoluted, IMO.
>
> 2) There doesn't seem to be a clear roadmap on Postgres features.
> When certian things are expected. There's the TODO list that
> Bruce maintains, but it only outlines 'near' fixes. MySQL has a
> nice listing of what to expect in certian future versions. I know
> it's not a perfect list, but it'd be nice to know when full blown
> replication will be included in PostgreSQL as an example.
> On those same lines, there doesn't seem to be anything about the
> improvements in the minor versions. It seems that in every
> release (i.e. 7.2,7.3,7.4) there are pretty significant changes,
> but finding a place that outlines these changes is somewhat
> difficult.
> While being somewhat nit-picky on this, it'd also be helpful if
> someone wasn't completely database literate could understand some
> of the changes. Who needs transactions, anyways? :)
>
> 3) There's the issues of 'advanced database features' in general.
> Many MySQL applications perform much of their logic in the
> application level, instead of the database level. They do this
> because there aren't things like triggers or stored procedures
> in MySQL. As the saying goes, 'if mohammad won't go to the
> mountain, bring the mountian to mohammad'. Why not do some
> simple explainations as to why these things are good, and what
> they do, and how to use them in real context?
>
> 4) As other peole have noted, there's no windows build readily
> available for Postgres. There may be, but it's difficult to
> find. If someone's used to running, say, Oracle, and all they
> have is a windows machine to test something out on, MySQL has
> compiled binaries ready to go.
>
> 5) I believe that this was noted as well somewhere along the line -
> the other tools, like pgadmin III aren't readily available
> either. They're excellent tools, and they should be quick to
> find on the postgres website.
>
> 6) Bug tracking. I haven't really looked into how MySQL handles
> this, but when learning about Postgres, I discovered that the
> whole development model seemed kind of 'closed', and people on
> the mailing lists would find bugs repeatedly. Something like
> Bugzilla would be very helpful in this respect. I've been kind
> of out of the loop for the past 6 months in this area, so it may
> have changed since then.
>
> 7) The two Postgres books are available online for anyone to read
> and download. They're there, but, to me, you have to notice them
> on the sidebar to go to them. They're extremely helpful, and
> they should be pointed out more.
>
>
> Most of these suggestions aren't really anything to do with the
> database itself. It's simply a re-organization of some of the
> information that's already available. As others have mentioned,
> 'it's about the PR'.
>
> Just my $.02 worth.
>
> Tim
>
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