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Microsoft Plays Up Open Source

Posted by kdawson on from the coopetition dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Recently Microsoft's open source software lab posted PostgreSQL on Windows: A Primer. Postgres is one of the longest running open source databases — it has been around for nearly 11 years. The powerful object-relational database is a direct competitor to other OSS databases, as well as Microsoft's SQL Server 2005. So why is Microsoft promoting it? I get Redmond's interest in boosting anything that runs on Windows as a platform. Is this simply a case of left-hand, right-hand, or is something deeper going on?"

7 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. What's going on here? by croddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Easy. This is targeted at folks who have already decided they want to use Postgres, so they can't be sold on the $xx,000 MSSQL license... but maybe they can still be sold on the $300 OS license! It may be too late to lock them into our database, but it's not too late to lock them into the OS.

    1. Re:What's going on here? by AoT · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And therein lies the genius of the plan.

      Step 1: Convince company to run postgres on windows.

      Step 2: Postgress run like crap.

      Step 3: Convince customer that it is postgres and *not* windows that is the problem.

      Step 4: Get customer to use MSSQL

      Step 5: Profit ...er

      Step 6: ?

      --
      A blog about stuff.
  2. If they don't buy MS, they might buy Oracle or IBM by LaminatorX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    MS is boosting Postgre because they don't want people buying Oracle or IBM's database offerings.

  3. Bullshit summary as usual... by jkrise · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Postgres is one of the longest running open source databases it has been around for nearly 11 years. The powerful object-relational database is a direct competitor to other OSS databases, as well as Microsoft's SQL Server 2005. So why is Microsoft promoting it?

    Firstly, an article on Port 25 is not promotion. It does not count as mainstream media by any stretch.

    Remember the ads on TV.. where there's a forklift, lifting up what looks like battery cells... and placing them on top of a huge building... and then you see, SQL Server 2005. If Microsoft replaces those ads with Postgres instead; we can call it promotion... not until then.

    Many firms (like mine) would like to use the manpower conversant with and trained on .Net... but use a free (as in beer) database. MySQL is pretty slow with joins, so Postgres with PL/SQL and stored procedures support, may be the answer.

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  4. MS is not really so monolithic by Felonius+Thunk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're really several companies with distinct businesses under common ownership. Occasionally the strategy tax must be paid (e.g. no IE for linux, no java/lamp for Visual Studio, no Exchange for *nix, MSN using wmv instead of flash), but I would guess most of the inner businesses want to do what their competitors do. It shouldn't be a surprise when they do, just laughable/sad when they don't.

  5. Microsoft is only Anti-GPL by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So why is Microsoft promoting it?

    Because PostgreSQL isn't licenced under the GNU GPL.

    --
    http://outcampaign.org/
  6. Am I the only one.. by Shiny+One · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .. that didn't miss the most obvious comment.

    Embrace. <-- You are here
    Extend.
    Extinguish.