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[David Mcllhagga]

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not having been more engaged in the discussions on this list over the 
past couple of days, but intend to be engaged from now on.

After reading Ed's email again, with his path #3 option -- I have to say that it would 
have been an ideal manner for handling this, and really wished I had thought of this a 
few months ago. With the benefit of hindsight - clearly this has not been handled 
perfectly well, but I hope that people can understand that everyone who was party to 
this was throughout trying to act in the best interests of the MapServer project and 
community.

Personally - I certainly take a lot of responsibility for how things have materialized.

Regarding the naming issue -- I was and continue to be the primary advocate for a common 
MapServer brand for both versions of the technology (regardless of the actual 'flavours' 
to be associated with each). I'd like to share with everyone why I continue to believe 
this is in the best interests of everyone involved, and in particular the original 
MapServer technology and user community.


With Autodesk making the decision to open source their web mapping technology, there 
were two possible scenarios that could unfold -- this could be called some form 
of 'MapServer' or something different. I am here at Autodesk University to meet with 
some of our new additions to the open source web mapping community -- both existing 
MapGuide customers and integrators, and the autodesk developers. And if I can relay some 
of what I have seen and experienced here -- it may help to underscore the benefits of a 
common brand.


Yesterday, at the keynote presentation - Autodesk's chief operating officer announced to 
the 5000+ in attendance that the Autodesk MapServer Enterprise - the replacement for 
MapGuide - was being released as Open Source. The consequence? A whole world of people 
who may never have heard of MapServer before suddenly were exposed to this -- exposed to 
MapServer - not just to The Autodesk flavour, but also the tried and true that we all 
love and use. The alternative? An announcement of MapGuide being open source would leave 
no one in attendance or reading the press coverage ever hearing about MapServer.


Over the past three days I and others have given a number of press interviews -- and to 
be able to talk about 'MapServer' as a family of open source web mapping technologies is 
incredibly powerful. To be able to build on the success of MapServer and to share in 
seeing this exposed to the broader IT world has enormous consequences that we will only 
begin to see in the months and years ahead. With a separate brand, the recognition that 
MapServer deserves would not occur -- and that would be a huge disservice to this 
incredibly important project.


My point is -- there is a huge big world out there who is just starting to learn about 
open source web mapping technologies - both within the geospatial industry and the 
broader IT world. Because of my commitment to MapServer and my goal of seeing both 
flavours of this technology being adopted as widely as possible -- I feel deeply 
committed to a shared brand for the power of the message we can all send to the outside 
world that so badly needs to hear it.


Symbolically -- this is also important as it demonstrates the openness that we 
collectively cherish. Open source should not exclude anyone who wants to participate - 
and that includes Autodesk. Through a shared brand -- the open source web mapping 
community can demonstrate to the world that we are open to working with everyone for 
mutual success.


I am deeply personally committed to the success of MapServer and to getting the world to 
hear about our accomplishments. It is for this reason that I hope that we can proceed 
with welcoming Autodesk into our MapServer community as an equal stakeholder.

I can tell you all personally that I have been fortunate enough to have met many of the 
people who are part of the Autodesk team - and I have been comforted to see their 
overwhelming enthusiasm and eagerness to be part of our community's success. Autodesk 
may be a large company -- but it is still made of human beings who have demonstrated to 
me a deep commitment to what is unfolding. The boldness of their commitment, and their 
willingness to work with the existing community is evidence of how genuine this 
commitment truly is.


I realize this is a difficult time for all of us -- change is inevitably difficult, but 
I'm confident that we will get through this and together find the best way forward for 
all.

Dave