PostgreSQL vs. The World Seminar Series — Spring 2026

Every major cloud vendor now offers an enhanced, opinionated PostgreSQL-compatible database management system (DBMS), based on either proprietary extensions, sharding middleware, or a completely new system. These moves make PostgreSQL the de facto database choice for modern applications. Against this backdrop, the remaining non-PostgreSQL systems resemble a surreal resistance movement: like a 55-year-old man who wakes up inexplicably pregnant, they find themselves burdened with a challenging condition. Such a man must struggle to understand how to move forward with their life, just as alternative databases now struggle to overcome an ecosystem that assumes Postgres semantics, tooling, and mindshare by default. The tale is absurd, unsettling, and darkly comic, but it captures the current reality.

The Carnegie Mellon University Database Research Group is exploring this question with the PostgreSQL vs. The World Seminar Series. The talks in this series will alternate between PostgreSQL-compatible DBMSs and alternative DBMSs that address problems PostgreSQL may not be well-suited to solve.

All talks are on-line and open to the public via Zoom. You do not need to be a current CMU student to attend. Random people off of the internet are especially welcome. Videos will be posted on the CMU-DB YouTube Channel after each talk.

Schedule

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