Re: Changing the name

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> Nice attempt at a compromise.

Thanks! :)

> However, it ignores several points around a name change:

> (1) JPUG, our single largest user community representing at least 25% of
> PostgreSQL users worldwide, opposes a name change.

This is not exactly true. Please see the archives. There's also no reason
they can't use "PostgreSQL" as long as they like, and change when/if they
are ready. Just like some people, groups, and companies use "Postgres" now.

> (2) "Postgres" is really not that much better of a name.  WTF does it
> mean?  If we're renaming, how about "AdvancedDB"? "AllYouEverNeedDB"? Or
> "EnterpriseDB"?  Oh, wait.  ;-)

It doesn't have to "mean" anything. The problem is that PostgreSQL is an
ugly, geeky, unpronounceable, untranslatable mess. It's actually to our
advantage to not have it mean anything. Google "firebird" for Exhibit A.
(Oh and Googling "postgres" vs "postgresql" is meaningless - both have
postgresql.org as the top hit, so Google already handles the alias)

> (3) Our project continually suffers from insufficient volunteer effort
> for marketing to do simple nuts-and-bolts things with proven ability to
> improve adoption: website overhaul, case studies, howto guides, news
> articles, blogs.  Where are we going to get the time to do the kind of
> marketing campaign a name change requires?  "I have a regex" doesn't cut it.

I don't know why a "marketing campaign" is needed. Simply a statement that
we're switching the official and alias names around, then we can slowly
and gradually change things.

> (4) When Neil said back before 8.0 that it was our last chance to change
> the name, he was right.  And we determined we couldn't do it without
> holding up the release. I still stand by that decision.

Well, I think it's kind of sticking our heads in the ground to just say
"it's too late!" That argument has ben raised before, and the only thing
people agree upon is that it will be harder the longer we wait.

Here's an idea: if I go a month without seeing "Postgre" or "PostgresSQL",
or having someone ask me how to pronounce it, I'll stop asking people
to make the change. :)

- --
Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com
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