Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

Galen Boyer wrote:

>
>
> Success of open source isn't solely dependent on the purchaser
> tinkering. One thing you could do, if it was open source, was
> hire someone who specialized in that technology to fix it for
> you. With closed source, the only option you have is Oracle
> releasing a patch or new version. Thats it.
>

Sorry, no. You are assuming that:

1- it somehow needs fixing from the word go. Nothing says that is the case. When you buy an app using a db, you expect it to work. Period. If it does, you pay for the purchase. If it doesn't, you send them packing and get another vendor in. What the heck do you need source code for?

2- "Hiring someone specialised" is somehow magically cheaper than getting a piece of software of the appropriate vintage. At a time when software is getting cheaper and cheaper and development costs more expensive by the minute, the entire theory of "source code included" is nothing more nothing else than pure unadulterated shite.

And that is the bottom line. I know that I'd like to have the source code and tinker around with it like Kim suggested. But the economic reality nowadays is that it is pure financial suicide to rely on source code to "fix" anything. The costs of hiring the right people to make that code usable (and maintaining it in a usable form) are astronomical compared to just getting a new release upgrade.

Did you know that 30 years ago it was quite common to buy the OS for your system WITH the source code included? It turned out to be so expensive to even attempt to do anything with that source code that the whole idea was abandoned ages ago.

I'm sorry, but this whole "source code included" rubbish is old hat: the industry has been there, done that, and found it was unworkable. About time we learned from history instead of just repeating the same errors in a never-ending circle.

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
wizofoz2k_at_yahoo.com.au.nospam