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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I agree very much with Marco's point, in
that it doesn't matter how great a program is, because as long as the
target user can not do his average day-to-day job with it, the program will not
be successful, and the effort of writing code has not been maximum taken
advantage of. A lesser quality, more expensive, but user-friendly program that
does do the job, will prevail (ESRI is full of bugs, but there is no real
substitute).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That being said, I think in the case of mapserver,
being a rather specialised application, you should be expected to have a
basic background in what you are doing. Documentation should not substitute for
that. In fact, if just anyone could get it to work, you'd run into quality (and
liability) problems, because they'd get it working without understanding whether
it is working correctly ("it looks correct and pretty, after all"). You end up
with map-makers calling themselves "system analysts" (no offense to anyone),
shooting themselves in the foot (is there a "shoot in foot" joke for mapscript
yet?).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think mapserver is fairly well documented (it
must be, if I got it to work). Only thing I think could be useful is a glossary
of terminology ('mapserver','mapscript', etc.), for new users. I am very
grateful to be able to make use of it for free.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jacob</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: UMN MapServer
Users List [mailto:MAPSERVER-USERS@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Marco
Marsella<BR>Sent: 3 March 2005 14:37<BR>To: <A
href="mailto:MAPSERVER-USERS@LISTS.UMN.EDU">MAPSERVER-USERS@LISTS.UMN.EDU</A><BR>Subject:
Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] A confused Network Admin</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Whoa! I can see that documentation and support are
sensitive issues!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>While I regret not having been able to participate
in the discussion<BR>due to time-zone differences, I would like to add a few
points, very<BR>briefly:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- no doubt, Mapserver is great as great are the
people developing it<BR>and helping us all on the list and writing the
documentation that's<BR>available</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- I see from some posts the usual mistake: code is
great, docs can<BR>wait. Nothing could be more wrong! Docs is as important as
code!<BR>OpenSource is making the difference with the code, which is
wonderful,<BR>but we also need to make a difference with documentation and
support.<BR>Why do you think Microsoft and ESRI are still the market benemoths
they<BR>are ? Because companies *need* support and commercial software
provides<BR>support (well, I know what you will say to this, but you see what
I<BR>mean)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- I *will* join the MSDP and do my
best!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Marco<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>