[mapserver-dev] GeoServer superseeding MapServer in Europe?

[Jan Hartmann]

On 07/07/10 21:29, Paul Ramsey wrote:
> http://s3.cleverelephant.ca/geoweb-mapserver.pdf
>    

Also very much worth looking at is Paul's Key Note talk at OsGeo 2009, 
about the place of open Source software in the general programming world

http://2009.foss4g.org/speakers/#Paul_Ramsey

It is about conceptual systems, developed in open Source software 
outside the market, and dedicated services, developed for mony for 
specific people and purposes. I'm afraid governmental proposals like 
Bart's Dutch one, ore Inspire, for that matter,  are somewhere in the 
middle: not good enough (by far) to give direction to the people who can 
really design large structured programs, and not specific enough (or too 
chaotic in its details) to be of service to the people who have to 
implement the actual services. The main thing about good programs is 
structure and extendability, and that is not something that can be 
achieved by government committees of non-programmers.

And then, Paul's talk is fun to look at and full of positive energy. 
"C'est le ton qui fait la musique".  (as a Canadian, you do understand 
French, Paul, don't you? I saw that you put some French at the beginning 
of the version of that talk at Daniel's  Rendezvous OSGeo at Quebec last 
month:

http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2010/06/nerds-redux.html

At least I guess it's French. Not the way they pronounce it over here in 
Europe :-)

Jan

On 07/07/10 21:29, Paul Ramsey wrote:
> http://s3.cleverelephant.ca/geoweb-mapserver.pdf
>
> On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Jan Hartmann<j.l.h.hartmann at uva.nl>  wrote:
>    
>> Hi Paul, didn't you do a talk somewhere about this aspect of MapServer and
>> PostGIS (written configuration files vs clickable interfaces)? I tried to
>> look it up when reading this thread (I'm also a keyboard person), but
>> couldn't find it.
>>
>> Jan
>>
>> On 07/07/10 21:23, Paul Ramsey wrote:
>>      
>>> Yes, get out and go for a run, burn off some negative energy! :)
>>>
>>> You can also configure GeoServer programmatically via the RestConfig
>>> API, though as a long-time MapServer person I still prefer the
>>> architectural flexibility provided by the consume-map-file-and-render
>>> map file approach.
>>>
>>> P.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Andy Colson<andy at squeakycode.net>    wrote:
>>>
>>>        
>>>>
>>>>          
>>>>> I think you can probably also read some of the reasons of why the Dutch
>>>>> government chose Geoserver, around page 46 in the following document (it
>>>>> also contains a section on Mapserver):
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.geonovum.nl/sites/default/files/algemeen/MOT20100618TechnicalDesignv1.0.pdf
>>>>>
>>>>>            
>>>> from page 46: "A strong feature of GeoServer is its configuration
>>>> management. It’s configurable through a web-interface."
>>>>
>>>> What?!  That is stupid!  Why in the world would anyone think a
>>>> web-interface
>>>> is better?  A text file is 1000 times easier to use.  Its searchable!
>>>>   Its
>>>> find/replace'able, its scriptable!
>>>>
>>>> The only thing you can do with a web interface is click.  That's it.
>>>> Click.
>>>>   But find the right place to click, by clicking in all the right magic
>>>> spots.  Wanna change all your red's to blue's?  Start clicking. Click
>>>> each
>>>> and every spot, because you cant automate it, or script it, or even
>>>> search.
>>>>   Its stupid.
>>>>
>>>> The only reason to have a web interface is to make the dumb people feel
>>>> more
>>>> comfortable.  And do you really want the dumb people f'ing around with
>>>> your
>>>> map server?  No!  I say no, use a text file that the dumb people are
>>>> afraid
>>>> to touch.  If they cant pass the test of learning the syntax then they
>>>> should not be allowed to play!  Dont make it easy for them to mess up.
>>>>
>>>> Whew.. I feel better.  Guess I have some issues I need to work through.
>>>> :-)
>>>>
>>>> -Andy
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> mapserver-dev mailing list
>>>> mapserver-dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-dev
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>          
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>>>        
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