Dear Friends, As a minor contributor to pgAdmin, I would like to express ideas as regards the Windows port. As a personal point of view, it may or may not reflect the community ideas, who knows. Don't flame me too much, I am only a casual user of PostrgreSQL...
************************************************************************************** Microsoft success is not due to a particular software (Word, Excel, Access, Ms SQL Server, Internet Explorer, Visual Basic, etc...) but to the combination of all these softwares on a proprietary platform (Windows). Whatever free software breaks into this combination of proprietary softwares will participate, one step after another, in the destruction of Microsoft monopoly. Therefore, PostgreSQL and OpenOffice for Windows are probably the most valuable efforts to break down Microsoft monopoly. Windows alone, without Word, Excel, Power Point, Visual Basic, MS SQL Server, will not convince a single customer. And this will be the end of Microsoft. On the converse, Linux rise is due, not only to the availability of a large number of softwares, but also to the notion a collaborative works inside a community. Even without cross-porting software from Unixes to Windows, I believe Windows will die of its own death because collaborative development in communities is superior. It is only a question of time. The conditions for PostgreSQL to defeat Microsoft quickly is that we stay united and wage war on the two fronts: Windows on the one hand and Linux/Unixes on the other hand. Most of you are Americans and as such, you probably studied the American civil war. One of the reasons why the civil war claimed 500.000 dies is that the armies fought on different fronts, at different times, without synchronization. As regards PostgreSQL, our efforts should concentrate on both platforms at the same time. In other words, this means: porting PostgreSQL to Windows, bringing pgAdmin2/3 to Linux and other Free Unixies. And probably delivering bundles under Linux, Free Unixes and Windows, offering the best Free softwares: PostgreSQL server, pgAdmin client and PhpPgAdmin web interface. MySQL success is largely due to its availability under Windows in bundles, which is a pure Microsoft strategy. PostgreSQL are not and will never be playing Microsoft strategy because we are a world community. To sum up: 1) Microsoft sucess is due to the availibility of bundles under a proprietary platform. Replacing Microsoft leading softwares with Free alternatives participates in the destruction of Microsoft. 2) Linux and other free Unixes also offer a large number of softwares. Our competive advantage is to work in communities. Even without cross-porting, Free software is going to replace closed software, this is only a question of time. 3) To accelerate the replacement of Windows closed source solutions, PostgreSQL community should synchronize the releases of PostgreSQL under Windows, Linux and Unixes. Not porting PostgreSQL to Windows is playing Microsoft strategy. 4) Also, we should focus on offering users a bundle including: server (PostgreSQL), client (pgAdmin), web interface (phpPgAdmin) and probably Php. This does not need to be a single installer, but at least it should exist as links on the web page. Just my 2 cents. Best regards, Jean-Michel POURE ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
