MapServer and Foundation naming

[Daniel Morissette]

Resending Dave's email, with a proper subject this time.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS]
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:22:13 -0500
From: David Mcllhagga <dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca>
Reply-To: David Mcllhagga <dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca>
To: MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU

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