By adamantly refusing to implement hints, which exist in all other major databases, the creators of Postgres show two things:

1) They do not trust their users enough to allow them to control the optimizer. That is a very insulting attitude, to say the least. Hints are an option, nobody is forced to use them. The creators of Postgres are actually refusing to provide that option on the grounds of the user stupidity. I leave the further conclusions to the reader.

2) The Postgres is an art project, not a serious DB, fit for the commercial server rooms. By adamantly refusing to listen to repeated requests made by the corporate users like me, the creators of Postgres show why is Postgres still a small fish in the DB ocean and why is MySQL still the first choice when it comes to open source databases. As one of the Postgres “gurus”, has written, “Postgres doesn’t have hints because Postgres is not for profit”. Great. Thanks for the warning, Bubba!

After a “debate” on PostgreSQL performance group, I decided not to start any porting projects from Oracle. PostgreSQL is simply not there yet and it is questionable whether it will ever be. What is particularly infuriating is that some members of the PgSQL community are actually working for companies that sell closed source versions of PgSQL, which support hints and that they were advocating against hints. That leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and raises questions about how trustworthy both the company and the open source database that they are advocating are. Ingres lost to Oracle. Postgres community seems adamant to repeat the same mistakes and lose to Oracle once again. My advice to the Oraclites looking for an alternative is that Postgres is not it.