Postgres 8.5 will be _THE_ free db in < 12 months.

I'll make this short, as my opinion counts for little, and my writing style is stilted at best.
My prediction: Postgres 8.5 will become the free database of choice in < 12 months. (release Q1 2010)
I'm actually surprised at how soon after the 8.4 release we already have working patches for both streaming replication and Hot Standby (in other words Read only Master-Slave replication).  I heard an interesting fact/rumor at Seattle PGCon: Postgres is the #2 piece of software in Asia. (no real context of that metric, but interesting if true)

I think I'll wait for an alpha and give it a try.
https://commitfest.postgresql.org/action/commitfest_view?id=4

http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Hot_Standby

http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Streaming_Replication