[zzalpha]

It's just very very odd. I don't see clear evidence of a corporation backing this project (certainly the website doesn't make clear mention of one), and yet the release is being pitched as though the project is being run by a business. They even claim to have a "Vice President of Apache Drill", whatever that means.

Is there a company backing Drill that I'm not aware of? Or is it genuinely a community project? I mean, it cites "Forest Hill, MD" which implies a headquarters of some kind... but it's not at all clear.

This matters. It matters for users and companies that use the product, and for developers contributing. Is there some company with tight control over the development path (with all the potential attendant risks)? Are there options for third party support?

Or is this just another community project that's being dressed up as something else?

[ted_dunning]

Apache has a number of vice-presidents. The reason is that making a release establishes that the Apache Software Foundation is standing behind the release and the licensing. The policy is that this requires the imprimatur of a corporate officer, thus each project has a VP who can sign off on releases.

[ted_dunning]

There are a number of companies with employees who are involved in Drill. These include MapR, Hortonworks and Twitter. That doesn't imply corporate sponsorship of Drill since all contributors in Apache contribute as individuals.