I'm the core developer of VictoriaMetrics - open source time series database, which can be used as remote storage for Prometheus monitoring system. It implements opinionated query language, which is backwards compatible with PromQL from Prometheus. Is it called Extended PromQL [1]. It slightly derives from the original PromQL in controversial cases [2]. Additionally it implements user-friendly functionality on top of PromQL:

* `WITH templates` (aka `CTE expressions`) [3].

* User-friendly simplifications such as `rate(q)` as a shorthand to `rate(q[$__interval])`.

* Additional functions and operators aimed towards solving practical issues, which cannot be solved with the original PromQL.

VictoriaMetrics constantly evolves and sometimes implements Prometheus feature requests. For instance, recently it gained the ability to show the lower and upper bounds of the estimation returned by `histogram_quantile()` [4]. I mentioned about this in the original feature request, so users could find the solution. This led to the post from Prometheus devs [5], where they:

* Blame VictoriaMetrics for pointing Prometheus and Thanos users to solutions for their issues in public channels.

* Say that VictoriaMetrics cannot use `PromQL` word in the documentation, since it is registered trademark. Why anybody didn't patent SQL yet?

To me this looks like a case for unfair competition. What do you think about this situation?

[1] https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/wiki/ExtendedPromQL

[2] https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/issues/3746

[3] https://victoriametrics.com/promql/expand-with-exprs

[4] https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/issues/5706

[5] https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/issues/5706#issuecomment-564532929