Poll: MapServer and Autodesk

[Paul Spencer]

Mike

I think you are right about how this has been presented, but I also  
think that it is a reasonably accurate assessment of the situation.   
I'm pretty sure that the intent is not as bad as it sounds, but I  
also think the way it is written could be trying to sway opinions in  
a certain direction - no bonus points for figuring it out though :)

I'm on record for thinking that co-branding is a good thing for  
MapServer but I realize I'm in the minority.  I've never been able to  
eloquently express why I think it is a good thing ... I guess I just  
think it is.

In the end, I don't really care that much as I now have two excellent  
platforms for delivering solutions to my clients, two platforms that  
share quite a bit of underlying technology but that approach the web  
mapping problem from two different directions.  Being able to say  
"MapServer" to my clients regardless of what I was actually going to  
do would, I feel, make my life easier ... but not sufficiently to get  
in a knot over it :)

Cheers

Paul

On 22-Dec-05, at 10:41 PM, Mike Davis wrote:

>> a) Work with Autodesk under the MapServer Foundation, creating a  
>> unified
>> brand name, with MapServer and Autodesk lending their respective  
>> brand
>> equities to each other and working together to make open source  
>> web mapping
>> the platform of choice.
>>
>> b) Work with Autodesk to release its product through a foundation  
>> with a
>> different name such as "MapTools", with MapServer now competing  
>> directly
>> with the new brand name that will be created and heavily promoted by
>> Autodesk, even though they will likely be housed by the same  
>> foundation.
>
> Wow, this really sounds like a "with us" or "with us but against us"
> choice you've laid out.  I thing the spirit of a foundation should be
> to bring together disparate projects with the intent of furthering the
> goals of GIS and Mapping based on open standards.
>
> You are absolutely right that the Mapserver name carries a certain  
> brand equity.
>
> Given time to develop under a common foundation, I think MapGuide/Tux
> will build a similar reputation, and hopefully a similar community.
> If the idea of an umbrella foundation has legs, hopefully many other
> projects sprout up with similar success.
>
> If not, many of the best pieces will probably be incorporated with the
> best pieces of Mapserver and it will live on in that way (antialiased
> lines anyone?).  The key is that the Mapserver community did not grow
> overnight.  Autodesk cannot expect the existing community to embrace a
> totally separate piece of software any more than they can expect to
> instantly inherit their own dedicated developer/user community just by
> teaming up with an existing project.
>
> Approach the Mapserver project as equals.  Give people a chance to
> test the waters.  They will vote in the only way that really counts...
> by using the software, and contributing back to its development.
>
> So in the end I vote for B... with the caveat that the attitude that
> projects in a foundation are in competition is absolutely 100% the
> wrong one to have.
>
> -Mike
>

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|Paul Spencer                           pspencer at dmsolutions.ca   |
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|Applications & Software Development                              |
|DM Solutions Group Inc                 http://www.dmsolutions.ca/|
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