PostgreSQL Global Development Group Announces Version 7.3

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group proudly announces the release of
version 7.3 of the PostgreSQL object-relational database management system
(ORDBMS). PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database,
provides solutions for many of the most demanding applications in use
today, saving businesses and governments millions of dollars each year.

Here is what some current PostgreSQL users have gone on record to say about
this technology:

"PostgreSQL has scaled perfectly with our rapidly expanding business, and
we recommend it over every other DB."
-- TrustCommerce, California

"PostgreSQL provided sales.org with a solution that was $70,000 less
expensive to create, and over 70% lower in cost to operate and maintain
than any of the commercial DBMS offerings we looked at."
-- sales.org Inc., Toronto

"PostgreSQL handles virtually all the standard SQL constructs. It is easy
(relatively speaking) to administer, it is fast, it is efficient, it has a
great API, and it supports ODBC, why would you choose something else?"
-- Mohawk Software, Massachusetts

The worldwide PostgreSQL community is very excited about this release,
which includes numerous modifications and enhancements thanks to the
contributions of over 500 developers and thousands of volunteer testers
from more than 50 countries.

"PostgreSQL 7.3 is full of new, oft requested features such as SQL '92
schemas, prepared statements, and stored procedures that can return record
sets. And under the hood there is a new dependency tracking system that
allows PostgreSQL to *safely* support many more subtle enhancements like
the ability to drop columns," said Neil Conway, a member of the PostgreSQL
Global Development Team.

Among the advances in PostgreSQL version 7.3 are:

Schemas
PostgreSQL now joins the handful of ORDBMS's to support
the SQL 92 Schema specification, improving both enterprise
database management and security through the use of namespaces.

Table Functions
PostgreSQL version 7.3 has greatly simplified returning result sets
of rows and columns in database functions. This significantly
enhances the useability of stored procedures in PostgreSQL, and will
make it even easier to port Oracle applications to PostgreSQL.

Security Advances
In response to community demands, PostgreSQL has added schema,
function, and other permissions and settings to increase the database
administrator's granular control over security.

Other Enhancements to PostgreSQL Version 7.3 includes:
- Enhanced dependency tracking for complex databases.
- Prepared queries for maximized performance on common requests.
- Expanded logging options
- Supports data in many international characters sets (UNICODE,
EUC_JP, EUC_CN, EUC_KR, JOHAB, EUC_TW, ISO 8859-1 ECMA-94, KOI8,
WIN1256, etc...)
- Dozens of performance enhancements to maintain PostgreSQL's leading
position in ORDMBSs.

Source for this release is available at:
http://advocacy.postgresql.org/download/

More information on PostgreSQL is available in nine languages on the
PostgreSQL Advocacy website:
http://advocacy.postgresql.org

A complete list of changes in PostgreSQL version 7.3 can be found in the
HISTORY file included with the release, or available on the web at:
http://advocacy.postgresql.org/changes/73/

About PostgreSQL:
With more than 16 years of development by hundreds of the world's most
generous and brilliant minds from the open source community, PostgreSQL is
the world's most advanced open source database. With its long time support
of an enterprise level feature set including transactions, stored
procedures, triggers, and subqueries, PostgreSQL is being used by many of
today's most demanding businesses.

Corporations such as BASF, Red Hat, Afilias Limited (suporting the
technical backend of the .org and .info domains), Cisco, Chrysler, and 3Com
rely on PostgreSQL's rock solid performance record and open development
process. PostgreSQL is available under a BSD License for both commercial
and non-commercial use.

To find out more about PostgreSQL or to download it, please visit:

http://advocacy.postgresql.org