Re: PostgreSQL derivatives

Simon Riggs wrote:
>
> On Fri, 2008-06-13 at 10:47 -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > Simon Riggs wrote:
> > > > > What can
> > > > > we do to actively encourage participation from all companies?
> > > >
> > > > I know that JoshB and I are constantly speaking with companies to get
> > > > them to contribute (code and otherwise).
> > >
> > > Many others do this also, but my concern is with how we can create the
> > > right conditions under which contribution is a positive thing for the
> > > contributor, not just a charitable, and therefore a more optional, act.
> >
> > I am having to read between the lines here, but, Simon, are you worried
> > that some companies might contribute so much that other companies will
> > not see the value in contributing?
>
> Yes, but its not just the contribution, so much as the external
> perception of it. Contributing to MySQL has always been possible for
> companies, yet almost none have done so. Since MySQL AB reassumed total
> control of the MySQL project the number of postings to hacker lists and
> number of external patches has dropped significantly. I don't want
> things to go in that direction, so I want PostgreSQL to be very clearly
> a multi-company, multi-user effort, in as many ways as practical.
>
> And, yes, I sometimes answer mail to info@2ndquadrant.com.

Ah, yes, this is certainly something we always want to avoid --- having
one company be so closely associated with Postgres that people think the
company owns it and therefore controls it.

Is that a problem now?  What things can the community or companies do to
avoid that?  We could scale back contributions, but I am afraid that
will hurt more than help.

--
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

  + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +