Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL Global Development Group

Robert Treat writes:

> I think we've already shown why it doesn't hurt to market to the
> converted. I'll add that if you compare the 7.2 press release with the
> 7.3 press release, you'll see none of the technical content was removed.

Compare the 7.3 release notes, written for the most part by Bruce
Momjian and revised by a couple of other developers, to the "press
release", written by people who were obviously ill-informed.

Release notes:
  Schemas         Schemas allow users to create objects in their own namespace so         two people or applications
canhave tables with the same name.         There is also a public schema for shared tables. Table/index
creationcan be restricted by removing permissions on the         public schema.
 

Press release:
  Schemas       PostgreSQL now joins the handful of ORDBMS's to support       the SQL 92 Schema specification,
improvingboth enterprise       database management and security through the use of namespaces.
 

This not only removes all information about the actual use of schemas,
it contains completely bogus information, because SQL 92 is obsolete,
there is no "SQL Schema specification", and none of this has to do
with being an ORDBMS.  And besides, whose hands were used to do the
counting?


Release notes:
  Drop Column         PostgreSQL now supports the ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN         functionality.

Press release:
  <void>


Release notes:
  Table Functions         Functions returning multiple rows and/or multiple columns are         now much easier to use
thanbefore. You can call such a "table         function" in the SELECT FROM clause, treating its output like a
table.Also, PL/pgSQL functions can now return sets.
 

Press release:
 Table Functions       PostgreSQL version 7.3 has greatly simplified returning result sets       of rows and columns in
databasefunctions.  This significantly       enhances the useability of stored procedures in PostgreSQL, and will
makeit even easier to port Oracle applications to PostgreSQL.
 

Again, this removes all details about how the feature can be used, and
again it inserts completely bogus information.  There are no "sets of
columns", and PostgreSQL does not have stored procedures.  Also, it
makes it look as though PostgreSQL exists merely to reimplement
Oracle.


Release notes:
  Prepared Queries         PostgreSQL now supports prepared queries, for improved         performance.

Press release:
      - Prepared queries for maximized performance on common requests.

I'm curious to know how the marketing department determined that this
is, in fact, the maximal performance.


Release notes:
  Dependency Tracking         PostgreSQL now records object dependencies, which allows         improvements in many
areas."DROP" statements now take either         CASCADE or RESTRICT to control whether dependent objects are
alsodropped.
 

Press release:
      - Enhanced dependency tracking for complex databases.

Again, all relevant information dropped, replaced by marketing fluff.


Release notes:
  Privileges         Functions and procedural languages now have privileges, and         functions can be defined to
runwith the privileges of their         creator.
 

Press release:
   Security Advances       In response to community demands, PostgreSQL has added schema,       function, and other
permissionsand settings to increase the database       administrator's granular control over security.
 

Information dropped, replaced by broad and repetitive verbiage.  But
at least they didn't write, "in response to market pressures".


And my personal favorite is this:

Release notes:
  Internationalization         Both multibyte and locale support are now always enabled.

Press release:
       - Supports data in many international characters sets (UNICODE, EUC_JP,         EUC_CN, EUC_KR, JOHAB, EUC_TW,
ISO8859-1 ECMA-94, KOI8, WIN1256, etc...)
 

That is just plain wrong.  Support for various character sets is years
old.

-- 
Peter Eisentraut   peter_e@gmx.net