MauMau, Crossing this over to pgsql-advocacy list where it really belongs. That's what that list is *for*.
Especially since the discussion on -hackers has focused on new PostgreSQL Features, which while also good don't address the general question. On 03/05/2016 09:29 PM, MauMau wrote: > Hello, > As I said in the previous greeting mail, I'd like to discuss how to > expand PostgreSQL ecosystem. Here, ecosystem means "interoperability" > -- the software products and cloud services which use/support > PostgreSQL. If pgsql-advocacy or somewhere else is better for this > topic, just tell me so. > THE BACKGROUND > ================================================== > Thanks to the long and hard efforts by the community, PostgreSQL has > been evolving to be a really great software comparable to existing > strong commercial products. Open source databases are gaining more > popularity to influence the database market. > Open source threatens to eat the database market > http://www.infoworld.com/article/2916057/open-source-software/open-source-threatens-to-eat-the-database-market.html > "Though the proprietary RDBMS market grew at a sluggish 5.4 percent in > 2014, the open source database market grew 31 percent to hit $562 million." > "As Gartner highlights in a recent research report, open source > databases now consume 25 percent of relational database usage." > Perhaps related to this is that the revenues of Oracle, IBM and > Microsoft have been declining (but I read in an article that SQL Server > is gaining more revenue). > On the other hand, there is a gulf between the two top popular databases > -- Oracle and MySQL -- and PostgreSQL. They are nearly five times more > popular than PostgreSQL. > DB-Engines Ranking > http://db-engines.com/en/ranking > Yes, I understand this ranking doesn't necessarily reflect the actual > use, but I also don't think the ranking is far from the real > popularity. In fact, some surveys show that MySQL has been in more > widespread use even here in Japan than PostgreSQL since around 2010 (IIRC). > What should we do to boost the popularity of PostgreSQL? One challenge > is to increase the number of software which supports PostgreSQL. To take > advantage of the trend of shift from commercial products to open source, > PostgreSQL needs to interoperate with many software that are used > together with the commercial databases. > The easily understandable target is Oracle, because it is anticipated > that more users of Oracle will seek another database to avoid the > expensive Oracle Standard Edition 2 and increasing maintenance costs. > In addition, PostgreSQL has affinity for Oracle. > However, there is a problem. The number of software is very small that > the users can know to interoperate with PostgreSQL. That is, when the > users want to migrate from commercial databases to PostgreSQL, they > can't get information on whether they can continue to use their assets > with PostgreSQL. Many applications might be interoperable through > standard interfaces like JDBC/ODBC, but the case is unknown. For example: > * Only 24 open source projects are listed as interoperable. > Open Source Projects Using PostgreSQL > https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/OpenSource_Projects_Using_PostgreSQL > * Even EnterpriseDB has only 12 certified application vendors. > http://www.enterprisedb.com/partner-programs/enterprisedb-certified-application-vendors > * PostgreSQL Enterprise Consortium lists only about30 related products > (Japanese only). > https://www.pgecons.org/postgresql-info/business_sw/ > * MySQL touts more than 2,000 ISV/OEM/VARs. > http://www.mysql.com/oem/ > Besides, in practice, we probably should increase the number of software > interoperable with PostgreSQL. e.g. one customer asked us whether > Arcserve can be used to back up PostgreSQL databases, but unfortunately > we had to answer no. They are using Arcserve to back up Oracle > databases and other resources. "Then, you can use NetVault instead" is > not the best answer; they just want to replace the database. > PROPOSAL > ================================================== > Last month, I attended the steering committee of PostgreSQL Enterprise > Consortium (PGECons) for the first time and proposed starting the > following activity. PGECons is a Japanese non-profit organization to > promote PostgreSQL for enterprise use. The members include NTT, SRA OSS > (Tatsuo Ishii runs), NEC, Hitachi, HP, Fujitsu, etc. We concluded that > we need to consult the PostgreSQL community on how to proceed the > activity and work in cooperation with the community. > * Attract and ask product/service vendors to support/use PostgreSQL. > Provide technical assistance to those vendors as an organization so that > they can support PostgreSQL smoothly. > If the vendors aren't proactive, we verify the interoperability with > their software by executing it. > * Make a directory of software/services that can be used with PostgreSQL > on the community web site (wiki.postgresql.org or www.postgresql.org). > Software/services vendors and PostgreSQL developers/users can edit this > directory. > This list not only has the names of software and its vendors, but also > other information such as the level of interoperability (certified by > the vendor, or verified by the community/users) and remarks about > configuration, tuning, and whatever useful for users. > PostgreSQL Enterprise Consortium (PGECons) > https://www.pgecons.org/en > CONSULTATION AND DISCUSSION > ================================================== > I'd like to discuss and hear opinions on how can we expand the ecosystem > of PostgreSQL. Example points are: > * How/Where can we get the knowledge of expanding the software > ecosystem? Is there any OSS project that we can learn from? > How can we attract software vendors to support PostgreSQL? What words > are convincing to appeal the increasing potential of PostgreSQL as a > good replacement for commercial databases? > * How can we gain momentum for the activity? > Can we involve globally influential companies like Dell, HPE, and Red Hat? > * Do we need some kind of assistance from a foundation or establish a > foundation? > There should be many, many software to address, so the ecosystem > activity has to be long-lasting. Plus, money and expertise is necessary. > Would we benefit if we join the Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects? > Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects > http://collabprojects.linuxfoundation.org/ > * Which software/services in what category should we address preferentially? > What software would many users desire to be interoperable when migrating > from commercial databases? > What is the effective way to absorb user requests for this? Is it > enough to make a questionnaire like the following? What is the popular > questionnaire site which can catch many users (SurveyMonkey?) > https://postgresql.uservoice.com/forums/21853-general > Regards > MauMau -- -- Josh Berkus Red Hat OSAS (any opinions are my own) -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers