CONNECT!

"Firebird 1.5 is a full-featured SQL database engine. It is powerful, yet lightweight, with minimal configuration and administration needs. It's easily scalable from single-user, single-database usage up to company-wide enterprise purposes. A single Firebird server can handle multiple independent databases, each with multiple client connections. And best of all: it's true Open Source, thus free of any license fees even for commercial use."
(source: Firebird Facts)

The first question that comes in mind for a Firebird new user is always "If Firebird is so good, why is its visibility so small in the database world?".

It has been a hot point for discussion around the Firebird Project for some time. We have a great developer team, we have a great documentation team, we have lots of volunteers doing a great job in support lists. We really don’t have a "Marketing Team".

Firebird does have a large group of users: Sourceforge downloads rolled over the million a long time ago. Mainly, they are software companies or independent software developers that are using Firebird in private software products. Typically, people who buy the products from them don’t really care about the database engine - they concentrate on the whole software solution and whether or not it works.

We could easily suppose that most end-users of Firebird don't know that they are using Firebird at all! If the product runs smoothly, without the need for a specialized DB Administrator, and it never gives you a problem, you tend not to give the database engine any thought.

Firebird is gaining a lot of ground as as a player in the database arena. We are a strong project delivering a strong product that competes directly with commercial leaders such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL. It’s not enough to be a great database engine, if the world know doesn't know about it.

We don’t have a Marketing Team, but we do have a lot of people interested in finding ways to spread the word about Firebird. The FirebirdSQL Foundation is helping to coordinate these interests into a positive marketing effort. Your help, as a Firebird user, can make a difference.

What is going on now to connect Firebird with "the market"? What can members do to keep one another and the public in touch with Firebird and the places it is to be seen?

Read more @ http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php?op=ffoundation&sub=connect