Re: Does this look ethical to you?

Tony Caduto wrote:
>> Thank you, however I'm more concerned with:
>>
>> "PGLA has many advanced features not found in pgAdmin III,".
>>
>> Aside from it being slightly misleading (not only are there not many
>> 'advanced' things PGLA can do that pgAdmin can't, there are a similar
>> number that pgAdmin can, that PGLA can't), it is still attempting to
>> sell your product on our name. I would therefore ask that you either:
>>
>> - Not mention pgAdmin at all, or
>> - Mention not only pgAdmin, but EDB Studio, Navicat, EMS PostgreSQL
>> Manager and other comparable products *as well*.
>
> I changed it to say PGLA has many advanced GUI features not found in
> other admin tools.
>
> I play fair Dave, and expect the same from you.
>
> <Why? It is an Open Source package, distributed for free, at the personal
> expense of numerous people including myself. Why should we advertise
> your or anyone elses commercial products for free?>
>
> Because the installer is not letting it be known that there are
> alternatives available, I have had many people tell me they had no idea
> there where was anything else available.
>
> It does not matter that pgAdmin is open source, and letting users know
> about alternatives is not free advertising, free advertising would be
> you paying for my Google addwords account.
>
> You guys are doing the same thing as Microsoft did with Internet
> Explorer, let's include it so our browser/admin tool is all the user
> knows about or sees when they install the OS, or in this case the SQL
> server.
>
> A link or blurb should be mentioned that there are other admin tools
> available or pgAdmin should not be installed either.
>
> I am not saying you put specifics about mine or anyone elses product
> commercial or open source, but I think links back to the commercial and
> open source pages on the postgresql site would be a fair thing to do.
>
> You are not letting the user make a choice about which admin tool to use
> or even try...
>
> Just my opinion on the whole fair competition thing,
>

I'm not sure I understand some of these arguments, and I don't know the history, so as an uninformed third party who
can'tresist adding my tupennyw'th... 

a) pgAdmin happens to be an admin tool that undercuts other tools in terms of price (free) and for some features

b) It has negotiated a distribution channel with partner organisations - something that any other organisation
presumablyis free to do. You just have  
to have the right proposition (OSS) to entice that partner to work with you.

c) If you would like pgAdmin to mention that there are more expensive alternative products - would your product before
completinga sale recommend  
that people go take a look at pgAdmin first and see whether that might be a better alternative?

Just out of interest - which product came first? I've been aware of pgAdmin for a long time - if it was there first
you'dhave to look closely at  
whether there was a commercial business case for trying to get into that market with a broadly similar product.

A valid business case would obviously include making sure there were suitable accessible channels to market and
sufficientfunds to finance those  
channels. OSS projects don't often have a cash generating base to fund those channels so they are always at a
disadvantageto commercial ventures. 

Personally I'd be a little uneasy trying to build a commercial product that piggybacks on an OSS product simply because
ifit's something useful and  
important, as opposed to niche, then someone will add an OSS version and, if they do their work properly, destroy my
market.

Pete
--
http://www.whitebeam.org
http://www.yellowhawk.co.uk
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