paulruizendaal wrote:

>
> There is an interview with FrontRange available at:
> http://news.fyracle.org
>
> In the interview, Angel makes a few interesting observations:
>
> 1. In his view there are OS databases and proprietary databases. It
> seems that Ann's insight about collective positioning is validated.

What a surprise :-) With no entry barrier, all open source options are
evaluated alike. Of course, we compete with each other, but this battle
is mostly about visibility (features are not so important, as any
product has it's value in specific situation).

> 2. He seems to appreciate our low-key, no hype image. Perhaps there
> is little truth in the feeling that a good product sells itself after
> all.

Yup, I've noticed that too among FB users. They like to have / know
something that others don't (something like secret ingredient syndrome).
No hype image also helps to build trust faster.

> 3. He appears to say that our linux installers are not so user
> friendly

We have (IBPhoenix) for few years an install script very similar to
windows one (but without GUI), that's very easy to use for novice users,
but also powerful enough for advanced users. It can handle almost all
situations (including automatic installs, advanced options, environment
detection, uninstall etc.). This script itself is open source, and was
offered to project about a year ago, but nobody was interested to adopt
it. Pity for project, but that's it. We ship this universal Linux
package on our CD along with official ones.

> 4. We competed against MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Ingres. By the
> looks of it, MySQL is actively targetting companies like FrontRange.

What a surprise :-) MySQL was always very active in hunting down new
customers. As business, they have no other choice.

> 5. Perhaps we should add small footprint to the list of benefits (in
> the developer benefit section?)

Certainly. It's vital part of total scalability (from embedded to huge
enterprise).

best regards
Pavel Cisar
IBPhoenix