MySQL and PostgreSQL

Matt Asay posted a very interesting comment on communities behind MySQL and PostgreSQL. In a nutshell, it reports an evidence of a strong PostgreSQL community.

I made a foray into the PostgreSQL territory 1-2 years ago. What I discovered was a solid product and a vibrant community.

For the next year or so I had been trying to sell it to a number of enterprise customers I worked with - with no success. As this was kind of puzzling, I did my due diligence in trying to figure out the reasons. Eventually I came up to two things that seemed to be important:

1. Low brand awareness in the enterprise. A not-too-unusual management response to a proposition to use PostgreSQL is “post-what?”. A product that bills itself as an enterprise-quality database should promote its brand accordingly.
2. Vague strategy of building a community of loyal enterprise developers who could demonstrate their proficiency in the technology in terms understandable by the management. I’m talking about certifications. There was an attempt to create a certification program for PostgreSQL but it didn’t seem to pan out.

MySQL excels at either of the above. Not only is its name known to every first respondent but also does it have an excellent certification program. That’s exactly how you social-market yourself in the enterprise. That’s exactly how you sell yourself for a billion.