"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?

• Create a worldwide "news channel"

  Let the world know about what we are doing. On the main page of our web site we do have the news update regularly, and other Firebird related web sites all over the world are quite fast to spread the word as well. But we need this information to spread out along other channels, in ways that catch the attention of interested folk who don't follow our community-centred news forums. We are looking for more people interested in doing this task in whatever ways are appropriate to conditions in your local circles--be it in your native language websites and forums, your blogs, any IT-related websites and forums in which you are active.

  If you need some help to do it, please contact and let us know about it.

• Linux Distributions

  We are working to see Firebird as a standard in Linux Distributions. We believe that being available “out-of-the-box” in a Linux distribution will help a lot new users to give us a try. This task is less simple than it seems. Some Firebird Foundation members already spent a lot of time trying, and we really hope that the efforts will be fruitful.

  If you work on a Linux distro, or have close contact with one, we would value your help. Please contact CONNECT! and we will bring you into this team.

  To be in a Linux Distro obliges us to follow the distro rules. This means a lot of work on installable source kits, make instructions per the rules of the distro, binary kits… If you have some experience in this area, would be delighted to talk with you.

• Porting Open Source Applications to Firebird

  An important way for Firebird to gain recognition is by becoming available as the back-end for popular open source applications that use databases, such as Compiere, Wiki, PHP Nuke, and many more.

  Thanks to good PHP support for Firebird, porting PHP applications to Firebird is proving to be "no problem!" As a a matter of fact, Firebird has great support for most language interfaces, so porting to Firebird should be attainable for most kinds of application that need to talk to databases.

  If you are using an open source software product that relies on a database engine, consider spending some time porting it to run "Powered by Firebird".

  can help you to get started--please write us a few lines telling us what you want to do and what you need and we'll help you to make it happen.

• Conferences, Seminars

  Since 2003, the annual international Firebird Developers' Conference has been held in Fulda, Germany. Firebird Developers' Days in Brazil appeared in 2004. The Firebird Users of Japan participated in a significant open source conference in Japan in 2004. Many of us have a presence in generic open source conferences all over the world.

  The Foundation has a strong commitment to support such activities. If you have been involved in these events, or are about to become involved in one, or even if you just hear of one on the grapevine, we are very interested to know about it. Write a few lines about it to and we'll do whatever we can to facilitate Firebird's presence.

• T-shirts and other "Nerdware"

  You can get really nice T-Shirts and polos embroidered with the Firebird logo from the IBPhoenix web shop. Other goods will follow - mousemats, hats, coffee mugs, memory sticks...

  If you live in Portugal or Brazil, you can buy CFLP T-shirts and even personalize them with the logo of your company.

  And here is the good part: besides demonstrating Firebird's presence in a very visible way, these Nerdware sales help to fund Firebird development by passing profits on to the FirebirdSQL Foundation.

• Foundation Membership

  These, and other CONNECT! activities that we haven't even thought of yet, are coordinated by the Firebird Foundation. A good way to start doing your bit is by becoming a member! If you are already a member, use your email tag-lines and your own websites to announce that fact and encourage others to come on-line.