Why does everyone run ancient Postgres versions?

Because the actual process of upgrading Postgres is terrible.

I say this as someone who absolutely loves using it, but the actual process of upgrading Postgres is something that takes significant downtime, is error-prone and you're often better off just dumping all the databases and reimporting them in a new folder. (A good idea in general since it'll vacuum and compact indexes as well if you do it, combining a few maintenance routines in your upgrade path.)

It requires having the previous version of Postgres installed, something which can mess with a number of distro policies (not to mention docker, which is the most popular way to deploy software that will typically rely on Postgres), and unlike most software with that issue, Postgres is software you want to be managed by your distro.

Therefore, most people only upgrade by necessity - when their distro forces the upgrade or the version they're using reaches EOL.

There are two primary issues with PostgreSQL:

* Upgrades

* Database Protocol

MS SQL Server does better on both of these fronts: Upgrades, when running MS SQL Server in a container, is rebooting the database with the new database engine version. The DBMS sees the old files, upgrades them in place and starts the DB completely seamlessly 100% of the time.

The MS SQL Server protocol, TDS, supports native named parameters, executes the T-SQL PL inline with SQL. TDS also supports inline query cancellations because the protocol is framed, and both T-SQL and TDS supports returning multiple result sets from a single query.

But yes, whenever I see PG docs saying, major versions require an export and re-load, I shudder.

As someone who has a decade of professional postgres experience (and built my company on it), and 6 years of SqlServer experience, I couldn't agree more with your comment. I really, really like the TDS wire protocol and what it enables.

I also really miss their query optimizer. It was just so damn smart.

I'm sorry, not to quibble about the quality of the TDS protocol, but what does it have to do with the upgradability of SqlServer?