PostgreSQL business: another look
EnterpriseDB's main offering is a version of PostgreSQL aimed at companies looking to get away from Oracle. All of the expected support offerings are there, but the key piece is a compatibility module which makes it easy to port Oracle-based applications. That greatly reduces the cost of moving to PostgreSQL, though customers will have to cope with losing the soft, warm feeling that comes from dealing with Oracle's contract negotiators. The biggest customer for this offering, so far, would appear to be Sony, which is moving its online games sites over to EnterpriseDB.
Unlike PostgreSQL, EnterpriseDB is not free software. It can be freely downloaded, and the license even allows for free use - as long as the user has a single-CPU system with less than 1GB of RAM, and the total database size does not exceed 4GB. Those who want to run larger systems or who want support from EnterpriseDB can pay between $1000/year (per CPU) for "Silver" support up to $5000/year for a "Platinum" package with 24x7 support, one-hour email response, tuning assistance, and access to the source code. See the EnterpriseDB pricing page for details.
So this company may look like the exception that proves the rule. It is not really selling PostgreSQL support; instead, it is selling licenses and support for a proprietary product which happens to have PostgreSQL at its core. The company does not release its code as free software, and it is distributing a number of enhancements (including the Oracle compatibility layer and a number of claimed performance improvements) without contributing those back to the PostgreSQL community. From the point of view of the PostgreSQL license, there is nothing wrong with this behavior; the PostgreSQL developers have explicitly allowed their work to be used in this manner.
This is not a case of a company hitching a free ride on a free software project, however. The company's senior database architect is Bruce Momjian, a long-time top-tier PostgreSQL hacker; a number of other PostgreSQL developers are on the payroll as well. Much of the work these people do does go right into the PostgreSQL code base. The company has also contributed to a fund to sponsor future PostgreSQL development. It would be hard to argue against the idea that EnterpriseDB is, on the whole, a good thing for PostgreSQL, even if its proprietary software business model does not sit well with everybody.
As it turns out, EnterpriseDB does offer PostgreSQL support - at least, for Sun customers running PostgreSQL on Solaris. For everybody else, there is a very long list of support providers out there, most of them apparently quite small companies. So the PostgreSQL support business might not be quite as hard as last week's article may have indicated - though it appears that a proprietary twist may be required for those wanting to go for the big bucks.