Alan Hodgson wrote:
> On Thursday 18 January 2007 15:54, Steve Atkins <steve@blighty.com> wrote:
> > Anyone else get spam from EnterpriseDB today, talking about
> > "Postgresql Support Services"?
> >
>
> yep. You really would think that even the marketing weenies might know
> better by now.
I do think that the unsolicited email was not an effective marketing
technique at all. Yet, I do not consider it on the same level as "SPAM"
(even though it may fit that description) because I understand that
many of the developers at that company are actively contributing to
PostgreSQL. The reality is that postgres _is_ open source which makes
it difficult to create a viable business model because most people will
just download postgresql for free and get support on the mailing lists.
What I think it suggests is that the company is having some financial
difficulties.
The sad thing is that in order for PostgreSQL to remain competitive, it
probably needs paid developers working on it. Oracle and the rest have
teams of professionals working on their RDBMS software 8 or more hours
per day. It is naive to think that someone coming home after work
spending 2 hours a day can compete with a professional team working
full time.
I think a good business market would be PostgreSQL hosting. Solaris
10 with PostgreSQL on a Zone. Maybe another server with OpenBSD. They
could then upsell their support to those hosted sites that have growing
traffic.
As for mass emailing, I think instead they should create a newsletter
they send out to subscribers. It could be filled with useful tips and
ideas (at the bottom they could provide their contact information and
services provided). This way, people would look forward to reading
their material and have positive associations of the company.
Just my 2 cents
Regards,
Karen