Re: The naming question (Postgres vs PostgreSQL)

On Aug 30, 2007, at 12:28 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Again, long term vs. short term. If we don't change it we will be
> having
> awkward pronunciations forever, and taking the marketing hit for that
> forever.  There is going to be short term pain, but long term gain.

This isn't even about only awkward pronunciation... PostgreSQL is,
flat-out, a *bad* name. It's akin to Ford calling a car
"MustangELECTRICSTART" because the car has an electric starter.
Perhaps having SQL support was novel at some point in Postgres
history, but it's certainly not today.

Yes, there's printed material that will have to be re-done. Big
whoop. If SPI and the corporate entities don't want to handle that
cost, I'll put up $500 of my own. If names didn't get changed because
of marketing material, we'd still be calling microwave ovens "radar
range"s.

As someone else mentioned, this issue is going to get worse as time
goes on. And I'll bet that eventually the marketplace will actually
decide on a name for us, simply because the name we have now is, at
best, confusing.

Someone mentioned companies that are already using Postgres instead
of PostgreSQL. I think it says something that the last 3 companies
that have started up with PostgreSQL (Greenplum, Pervasive,
EnterpriseDB) have shunned the name. Heck, Greenplum and EnterpriseDB
have shunned the name multiple times (names that don't contain
PostgreSQL but could: Greenplum, MPP, Bizgres, EnterpriseDB,
EnterpriseDB Advanced Server, EnterpriseDB Postgres). Oh, I forgot
ExtenDB, too.

Did Greatbridge even use the term PostgreSQL?

We can poke fun at marketing people all we want, but like it or not
they're *trained* in how to make people want to use something. I know
Pervasive and EnterpriseDB both have marketing people on staff, and
I'm guessing Greenplum does as well. They recognize that Postgres is
a better name than PostgreSQL. If we care about advocating the use of
this database, perhaps we should heed that wisdom and figure out the
best way to change the name and then move on.
--
Decibel!, aka Jim Nasby                        decibel@decibel.org
EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)