X-Original-To: pgsql-advocacy-postgresql.org@localhost.postgresql.org Received: from localhost (unknown [200.46.204.2]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C221CD1B8E7; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:26:24 -0300 (ADT) Received: from svr1.postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (neptune.hub.org [200.46.204.2]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 63537-07; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:26:23 -0300 (ADT) Received: from win.lh.vix.com (win.lh.vix.com [204.152.188.39]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5F64BD1B8BD; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:26:22 -0300 (ADT) Received: from house.payne.org (h000625e9c972.ne.client2.attbi.com [24.218.241.71]) (authenticated) by win.lh.vix.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id i3S6EJM20303; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 02:14:19 -0400 Received: from office2 ([10.19.69.1]) by house.payne.org (8.12.5/8.12.5) with SMTP id i3S4HlL2000532; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 00:17:48 -0400 From: "Andrew Payne" To: "Bruce Momjian" Cc: "PostgreSQL-development" , "PostgreSQL advocacy" Subject: Re: What can we learn from MySQL? Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 00:24:22 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <200404280351.i3S3p7d16146@candle.pha.pa.us> X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at postgresql.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 tagged_above=0.0 required=5.0 tests= X-Spam-Level: X-Archive-Number: 200404/276 X-Sequence-Number: 4248 Bruce wrote: > > Does anyone know of an open source project that *has* successfully displaced > > a market of mature, established products WITHOUT a commercial entity > > providing marketing, support & direction? > > Linux. It doesn't have a single company behind it, but several. Uh, no. Linux HAD a commercial entity providing marketing, support, and direction. Red Hat went a long, long way to making Linux real for businesses. They were (are) a well-funded entity, focused on Linux adoption. Their early success, in turn, validated the business (a) so competitors got funded and (b) so established companies (e.g. IBM) started to pay attention. (This is not meant to give all credit to Red Hat: if it wasn't them, it would have been some other similar group). So, does anyone know of an open source project that *has* successfully displaced a market of mature, established products WITHOUT a commercial entity providing marketing, support & direction? If not, where's the Red Hat for Postgres? Good discussion! -andy