[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: [postgis-users] A bit off topic, but FOSS GIS clients...

[Paul Ramsey]

> I realize it ain't easy. But could consolidation
> (future effort) make it easier?

The only thing that can be consolidated is developer effort, and even  
where there are no programming language barriers (such as in the Java  
world) there are lots of countervailing reasons that make mergers  
impractical.

"Everyone should drop their projects and work on uDig."  But all the  
gvSIG developers are supported by funding from Spanish government  
that requires all the work be GPL; and they also prefer a pure Java  
implementation to the SWT/Eclipse implementation that uDig uses.  And  
the OpenJUMP people have an existing rich set of editing tools that  
are not easily portable to the uDig application model. Are they going  
to throw away all their existing functionality to move to another  
platform?  Why?  OpenJUMP works fine for them.

You are thinking the developers are working for you, the user, but  
they aren't. They are working for themselves and their employers, and  
they have perfectly good reasons to keep working on what they want to  
work on.  You, the freeloading user, are incidental to the process.

We, the developers and employers, are well aware of the strategic  
implications of choosing to join, or not join, a particular  
community, probably to a far finer degree than you, and don't worry  
-- we are looking after our interests.

> What's Refractions' model? Paul? Presumably
> Refractions is a for-profit entity and not an ESRI
> Business Partner. Refractions seems to be quite
> successful with PostGIS. PostGIS seems to be the de
> facto FOSS spatial database extension, with PostgreSQL
> being its host. Longer lead time, I know.

Actually we have been an ESRI business partner in the past, and would  
not mind being so again. We do a large percentage of our revenue on  
projects that use ESRI, Oracle and other proprietary tools.  PostGIS  
provides us with no direct revenue at all, nor does uDig.

http://geotips.blogspot.com/2005/10/open-source-company-oxymoron.html


> Does Refractions not implement the FOSS GIS products
> they help develop for pay? Do they not, like Google
> (although Google has endless capital), allow their
> programmers to work, at least part-time, on FOSS GIS
> products during work hours?

To a degree, but relative to our overall revenue flow, not really.   
The pay-back on dollars spent on OSS development is much harder to  
put metrics around than the payback on things like direct sales  
effort, or proprietary software development.

> Also, wasn't there a FOSS4G presentation about
> consulting as a way to further FOSS GIS development
> and make a living at it as well?

Bit of a myth, as far as I can tell.  This open source technology  
wedge is still so small that the business opportunities remain  
relatively tiny, particularly in North America, where the technology  
base is so homogenous and the mental lock-in to a vendor-led  
mentality so strong.

> Is there a QGIS foundation? If not, could there be?
> Should there be?

No, there's an OSGeo foundation, of which QGIS is a member, that's  
good enough. Once it's a 5013c, US donors will even be able to get  
tax receipts for their donations to QGIS development, and write off  
the donations.

P

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