How PostgreSQL survived near-death to become a cornerstone of modern cloud infrastructure
By
Joab Jackson
Summary
This feature article chronicles the unlikely survival and rise of PostgreSQL, tracing its origins from Michael Stonebraker's Postgres project (a successor to Ingres) through its near-death experiences in academia and the corporate world. It highlights how a dedicated group of open source contributors rescued the database from obscurity, transforming it into one of the most critical infrastructure components powering modern cloud applications and data systems. The piece explores the technical decisions, community dynamics, and historical accidents that turned an academic toss-aside into a foundational technology.
Source
bskyHow PostgreSQL survived near-death to become a cornerstone of modern cloud infrastructuretheregister.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledPostgres was shorthand for 'Post-Ingres'
If it weren't for a league of exceptionally devoted open source contributors, it probably would be another forgotten also-ran just like Ingres
Michael Stonebraker is perhaps the preeminent database pioneer in the field
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