PostgreSQL Hits 9.3, New Levels Of Popularity With The Cool Kids

There’s something about PostgreSQL. Over the past year or so, the once-somewhat-dull-open-source database has seen a renaissance of sorts. Long the ugly stepchild to MySQL, the cool kids now increasingly prefer PostgreSQL to MySQL. And with a major new release—PostgreSQL 9.3—a great but somewhat ignored database just got even better, and almost certain to be less ignored.

Why?

PostgreSQL’s Steady Rise

PostgreSQL has been around forever. That is, since 1986. Database king Michael Stonebreaker first started working on PostgreSQL (then Postgres) in 1986, originally intended to be a superior successor to Stonebreaker’s Ingres database. But while PostgreSQL has always had its fans, it never really caught on as a dominant industry database. That honor goes to MySQL, which started in 1995 and has grown to become the world’s most popular database.

But something is brewing in PostgreSQL Land.

While general interest (as measured by Google searches) seems to be waning for PostgreSQL, with the kingmaking developer crowd, there is evidence from other sources that PostgreSQL is making new in-roads. Since early 2012, developers have been talking about it much more, as evidenced by Hacker News mentions:

More importantly, PostgreSQL now translates into an increasing number of jobs. It’s nice to have people talk about technology. The real key is when they start to pay for it with headcount.