Re: 9.5 Release press coverage

On Fri, Jan 8, 2016 at 1:59 PM, Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com> wrote:
> The rest of us (CMD, 2Q, OmniTI, etc...) are all just service providers. EDB
> is the only "distribution" of PostgreSQL.

From a technical point of view, it certainly isn't.  There are
certainly other companies distributing PostgreSQL, in source code, in
RPM form, and maybe even in fat client installers, though I don't know
of anyone else doing that last one at the moment.

But from a PR point of view, I'm not sure how many other PostgreSQL
companies have dedicated PR departments as EnterpriseDB does.  I
suspect, although I do not know, that a journalist who gets a press
contact from PostgreSQL is much more likely to get that contact from
an EnterpriseDB staff member than an employee of any other PostgreSQL
company, because we pay multiple people to do that kind of thing.  I
can say categorically that it is the intention of EnterpriseDB
management and of the people who work in our marketing department to
promote both PostgreSQL and EnterpriseDB, not just EnterpriseDB.  I
can also say that the people who work in our marketing department, and
particularly Renee Deger with whom I have worked a good deal, are
people of integrity who sincerely intend to do the right thing not
only for EnterpriseDB but also for PostgreSQL.  That does not mean
they always get it right, but they sincerely try, and implying
otherwise is unfair.

However, EnterpriseDB's PR staff is paid by EnterpriseDB.  And that
means that, while they talk about EnterpriseDB and PostgreSQL, they
typically don't spend a lot of time talking about other PostgreSQL
companies.  Frankly, I think that's pretty fair.  I suspect that when
2ndQuadrant or Dalibo or PGExperts or CommandPrompt or OmniTI puts out
a PostgreSQL-related press release or does an interview for a trade
rag about PostgreSQL, they don't typically say "now let me tell you
about EnterpriseDB, who also contributes to the PostgreSQL community".
And that's pretty fair too. There's nothing to prevent any company
that wants from hiring just as many PR people as EnterpriseDB has, or
even more, and giving just as many interviews to the press as we do.
And I bet that, if they do, some of those interviews will come off
sounding like that company is the only PostgreSQL company, too.

In fact, here are a few other links where only a single PostgreSQL
company is mentioned, found with a quick search of Google News:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2347067/met-office-selects-2ndquadrant-to-help-with-data-migration-to-open-source
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-unveils-linux-only-mainframe-builds-on-linux-success-300129060.html
http://www.infodsi.com/articles/153522/dalibo-propose-formations-gratuites-postgresql.html

Now, from any of those articles, you could easily conclude, if you
didn't know better, that the PostgreSQL company mentioned in the
article is the only one that exists.  It's certainly the case, in each
instance, that no other company is mentioned besides the one quoted,
and there's no disclaimer, hey, we're just one company in the
community.  I don't think any PostgreSQL company is obliged to insert
such a disclaimer into every interview.  You couldn't get the
journalists to take them anyway, certainly not in every case.  And why
should anybody even be obliged to try?

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company