Bruce Momjian: Postgres Blog http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog.html en-us Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:15:00 EST Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:15:00 EST bruce@momjian.us (Bruce Momjian) bruce@momjian.us (Bruce Momjian) Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:15:00 -0500 <p>Many computer programmers are introverts because they have chosen the solitary job of creating programs that accomplish specific tasks. Open source developers are probably even more prone to be introverts because the (boring?) meetings, office chit-chat, and lunch outings are mostly gone, with the only communication being via email, instant messaging, twitter, and blogs. Open source social interaction is certainly more controlled than traditional communication. </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#February_4_2010">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#February_4_2010 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#February_4_2010 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>On Monday Josh Berkus <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-advocacy/2010-01/msg00044.php">requested</a> suggestions for a new Postgres slogan. Our current slogan, "The world's most advanced open source database", was chosen in the early years of the project to distinguish ourselves from other open source databases, and it is easy to see why we should consider a change at this time. The suggestions fit into several categories, some serious, some humorous. Continued discussion is taking place on the advocacy (<a href="mailto:pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org">pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org</a>) email list. </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_29_2010">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_29_2010 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_29_2010 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>I was approached in the fall about speaking at various Philadelphia computer user group meetings. Now that I am home I have been able to speak at several, and it is clear there is greatly increased interest in Postgres here in the Philadelphia area, and I bet in other cities as well. For example, in January/February, I am speaking at: </p> <ul> <li>Philadelphia area Linux User Group (PLUG) - North </li><li>Philadelphia area Linux User Group (PLUG) - West </li><li>The Mathlab at Drexel University </li><li>A Drexel University class </li></ul> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_5">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_5 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_5 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>I have always thought there were three possible threats to Postgres: </p> <ul> <li>Control of the Internet domain name </li><li>Patent attacks </li><li>Hiring of volunteers to work on unrelated projects </li></ul> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_4">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_4 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_4 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>Last week <a style="text-decoration: none" href="http://www.enterprisedb.com/">EnterpriseDB</a> put out a <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/postgres-community-responds-to-eu-decision-to-approve-oracles-acquisition-of-mysql-82372882.html">press release</a> with an inaccurate title. Instead of being titled, "EnterpriseDB Responds to EU Decision to Approve Oracle's Acquisition of MySQL", it was unfortunately titled "Postgres Community Responds ...". This has the potential to confuse journalists into thinking that Postgres development is not community controlled, and that's the last thing we want to happen at this point, with MySQL's problem in this area starkly highlighted. This dovetails well with the <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_4_2010">blog entry</a> I posted a few weeks ago titled, "Don't Confuse Companies with Community". </p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_3 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_3 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>Based on recent discussions, I am wondering if Postgres is poised for a significant adoption increase in the next year. This is based on a few events: </p> <ul> <li>The upcoming Postgres 9.0 release, which I just blogged about </li><li>The unstable economy, which is causing many companies to rethink their software spending practices </li><li>The uncertainty surrounding other databases, both proprietary and open source </li></ul> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_2">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_2 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010_2 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>Last week Dave Page <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2010-01/msg02056.php">announced</a> that the next major release of Postgres will be numbered 9.0, rather than 8.5 as previous expected. This change was made because the next major PostgreSQL release will include built-in log-streaming replication, and that has always been considered a feature worthy of increasing the first version number. </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_28_2010 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>It seems the European Commission studying the Oracle purchase of Sun/MySQL has finally realized Postgres is a viable open source alternative to MySQL and has <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/40">approved</a> the purchase: </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010_2">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010_2 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010_2 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>I mentioned <a style="text-decoration: none" href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2008.html#January_10_2008_4">two years ago</a> that I was going to read through the Postgres documentation to see if I could improve it. Now, two years later, I have read through only 25% of the manual. (I will be making a commit to the "Administration" book in the next week.) </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_21_2010 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 <p>There have recently been several excellent blog posts by Postgres community members regarding the campaign by MySQL developers to block the purchase of Sun Microsystems by Oracle. Unfortunately, I think a fatal mistake was made by the MySQL developers years ago when they equated the success of MySQL AB, the company, with the success of MySQL, the software. They are not the same, but, tragically, it is too late to undo that mistake. </p> <p><a href="http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_4_2010">Read More &raquo;</a></p> http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_4_2010 http://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2010.html#January_4_2010