<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Larry<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks so much for this detailed review. Here is my quick take on your self evaluation:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">Summary of our results (in report card format), with discussion following:</div><div class="">* Respect the license: A</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Agreed</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Don't present your work as our work: A</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Agreed</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Don't present our work as your work: C-</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Agreed though I feel comfortable this was not done as part of a larger agenda of taking credit for work done by the QGIS community. It’s great to see you have steps in place to improve on this in the future.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Friends don't fork: A</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Agreed</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Don't rebrand: B</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I’d bump you up to an A- on this - I don’t see a big problem with swapping out the splash screen etc. My thoughts on this were partially a wish that the QGIS identity not be hidden away from the user, and partly to protect providers from creating a morass of un-mergable code in their fork.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Integrate your team with the QGIS community: B+</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I would score you an A- on this in terms of how you and the other Boundless devs are actively engaged in the community. The last mile to an A would be to get your marketing folks a little more in tune with the community - which you have already got steps in place to do.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Integrate your work with the QGIS code base: B+</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I don’t have enough insight into all the moving parts you have but your approach of using a more or less vanilla LTR version for your offering, keeping bespoke isolated in a plugin, and then contributing the rest via core contributions seems like a very nice way to go from my point of view.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Keep us in the loop: B</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Agreed, and I can understand why it can be difficult in some cases to move to an A on this.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">* Don't only contribute code: C</div></div></blockquote><br class=""></div><div class="">I think you are discounting the fact that in 2013 Boundless sponsored a heap of designer time to beef up our web site - we are still enjoying the benefits of that today. Of course more of the same would be appreciated and the other initiatives you mentioned are much appreciated and I would certainly have bumped you up a notch on this.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I want to add as a final note from my side that the blog article I wrote was an aggregate of experiences from interacting with a variety of commercial service providers and was by no means aimed in toto at Boundless. Yes there were a couple of specific incidents but you are not alone in that and I think on the whole my impressions of Boundless as a contributor to the FOSS GIS is a very positive one. So please convey our thanks back to your colleagues for taking on board our concerns in the specifics of the recent issues, and also for the larger effort and contribution you are making - it is much appreciated!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Regards</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Tim</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 28 Apr 2016, at 03:19, Larry Shaffer <<a href="mailto:lshaffer@boundlessgeo.com" class="">lshaffer@boundlessgeo.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">From: Boundless Spatial <a href="http://boundlessgeo.com/" class="">http://boundlessgeo.com</a><br class=""></div><div class="">To: QGIS Project Steering Committee <a href="http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/" class="">http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/</a></div><div class="">April 27, 2016</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hello QGIS PSC,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Recently there have been misstatements from our marketing department regarding the QGIS distribution Boundless packages, causing understandable concern and objection from several of the QGIS developers. Once contacted by the PSC, the Boundless team discussed at length planned steps to not only remedy those misstatements, but to also ensure more communications regarding Boundless software releases are clear and respective to the community’s work. While formulating a plan, we read Tim Sutton’s email on a draft blog article about enterprises collaborating with QGIS and it helped confirm several areas in our processes which need improvement.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In the spirit of open and constructive discussion, below is an internal review by Boundless to honestly assess our actions and contributions in relation to the sections Tim outlined in his blog post:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://blog.qgis.org/2016/04/23/promoting-and-using-qgis-for-the-enterprise/" class="">http://blog.qgis.org/2016/04/23/promoting-and-using-qgis-for-the-enterprise/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Summary of our results (in report card format), with discussion following:</div><div class="">* Respect the license: A</div><div class="">* Don't present your work as our work: A</div><div class="">* Don't present our work as your work: C-</div><div class="">* Friends don't fork: A</div><div class="">* Don't rebrand: B</div><div class="">* Integrate your team with the QGIS community: B+</div><div class="">* Integrate your work with the QGIS code base: B+</div><div class="">* Keep us in the loop: B</div><div class="">* Don't only contribute code: C</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Respect the license* A</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless does not disrespect the QGIS GPL2+ license in any way. We are now in the midst reviewing of our exposure of licenses to all underlying software, open-source or otherwise, to increase awareness to users.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Concerning Boundless contributions based upon QGIS code bases, one needs to look no further than all of the public code repositories for Boundless plugins and the detailed QEP for the new QGIS authentication system crafted by Boundless:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://github.com/boundlessgeo?query=qgis" class="">https://github.com/boundlessgeo?query=qgis</a></div><div class=""><a href="https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals/issues/35" class="">https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals/issues/35</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless does have a few QGIS-related private code repositories, though these are for build scripts and plugins under in-house development.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Don't present your work as our work* A</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless has not presented our work as the work of the QGIS community in our findings. Please let us know if you find any instance to the contrary.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Don't present our work as your work* C-</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Obviously, Boundless needs to improve on this. We are currently running an audit of all Boundless website, documentation, and installer text and will correct any unclear or incorrect statements. The QGIS team of developers at Boundless is now directly involved in appropriate parts of marketing for a release and will review such text in the future.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Because Boundless support and software offerings are delivered through a website registration form, this has led to a few concerns and uncertainty around the Boundless offering. There have been several statements that Boundless installer packages containing QGIS are not different than the official packages and that Boundless is somehow fishing for marketing data prior to sending the user to the official downloads at <a href="http://qgis.org/" class="">qgis.org</a>. This is not the case.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless does offer installers, separate from the official QGIS packages, which provide added value to our supported customers. Boundless clearly needs to improve in describing the difference between Boundless packages that contains QGIS and the official QGIS packages to potential users before they download, which we will remedy immediately in future communications.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Friends don't fork* A</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless does maintain a graphically branded, non-divergent fork of QGIS for the purpose of incorporating builds into Boundless installers for several reasons, including some that require Boundless to be the origin of the built software.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Base fork:</div><div class=""><a href="https://github.com/boundlessgeo/QGIS" class="">https://github.com/boundlessgeo/QGIS</a></div><div class="">Current LTR branch (what is currently released in Boundless distribution):</div><div class=""><a href="https://github.com/boundlessgeo/QGIS/tree/release-2_14-boundless" class="">https://github.com/boundlessgeo/QGIS/tree/release-2_14-boundless</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Any non-branding edits to those branches (all commits prefaced with [boundless]) are merely to fix support issues for Boundless customers or to allow Boundless-supported customers to work with external Boundless resources and content. Changes to the core QGIS code are always avoided unless absolutely required.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Maintaining a divergent fork of QGIS is something Boundless has no interest in developing or maintaining.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Don't rebrand* B</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Rebranding presents a conundrum for Boundless since maintaining and incorporating a distribution of QGIS (or other open source GUI software) within Boundless installers is a key ingredient to QGIS adoption within large enterprise deployments. If the distributed version in Boundless installers is not rebranded, users may become confused as to its origin or that it is indeed a different package than one procured from official QGIS distribution channels. This could lead to increased support issues for both Boundless and the QGIS project. Thus, Boundless generally rebrands all software where this might be of concern.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This does equate to light graphical rebranding, usually just the splash screen and executable’s icon. The Boundless QGIS team has resisted any attempt to change application strings, as we are all well versed in the need to keep localization intact as well as keep the user’s QGIS experience as close as possible to that of official releases. It is also paramount to Boundless that QGIS users of its distribution can reference online official and community documentation for the core application without hinderance from rebranding.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Integrate your team with the QGIS community* B+</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless currently has a QGIS team of six developers who have backgrounds of contributing to the QGIS project prior to working at Boundless. Most of those developers are core committers to the QGIS project. All have long track records of volunteering with and helping the QGIS community. Like other initially development-oriented enterprises, Boundless could have done a better job of integrating with the QGIS documentation team. We anticipate contributing considerably more documentation in the near future.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As we continue to grow the QGIS team here at Boundless, we will ensure community integration is articulated to new members.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Integrate your work with the QGIS code base* B+</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Other than customized solutions Boundless develops for some customers, there is practically no coding done on QGIS core code base or plugins by the Boundless QGIS team that does not also benefit Boundless and its customers, as well as the community, by being contributed back to the QGIS project.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Many Boundless customers who contract for development *require* work be contributed back to the community once completed. This is essentially an insurance policy on the work, since many are looking to replace vendor-locked commercial GIS software with open-source and need assurances paid development does not become vendor-locked as well. Similarly, Boundless recommends to customers that contracted development be contributed back to the community. Beyond the benefit to everyone that community contributions provide, Boundless has no interest in maintaining a divergent QGIS fork, let alone one specific to a particular customer.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">With regards to non-QGIS-core plugins, much of the added value Boundless brings to its QGIS-based packages that is useful for supported customers stems from plugins. The “publicly release often and early” open-source idiom is not always the best approach for early development and releases, albeit the code is often publicly available. Once a plugin has been shown to be very stable and useful to a broader base of users than Boundless customers, it is considered for a broader public release, like the GeoServer Explorer plugin (based on initial work of the OpenGeo Explorer Boundless-released plugin), which is now in the QGIS official plugin repository.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Keep us in the loop* B</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Our QGIS work is often in public code repositories and we have also utilized the QEP process for large contributions, e.g. new authentication system. We had marginal success using the QEP process, albeit probably due to the earlier workflow of the process and some misunderstanding by the Boundless team on how the process works. Commercially speaking, creating added value to QGIS, whether by way of plugins or core features, can be a somewhat private affair until ready to release. There is room for Boundless to improve communication here.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">*Don't only contribute code* C</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless can improve in this area and has already taken steps to do so. Boundless is sponsoring the upcoming International QGIS User and Developer Conference in Girona, Spain. We are looking to contribute much of our work on building and code-signing Mac installers. As noted above, we are planning larger contributions to documentation. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">----------</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless is committed to supporting both users and developers of open-source geospatial software as well as their surrounding communities. Without such support, and the tireless efforts of open-source communities, Boundless would not be so well positioned to offer supported open-source alternatives to heavily entrenched proprietary geospatial software.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This balancing of open-source community and commercial support benefits everyone involved, so long as acknowledgement, communication and contribution flows both directions. Boundless has not been balanced in our marketing and contribution efforts, but has taken this first step towards finding a working solution. Any suggestions in this direction are welcomed.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Regards,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boundless and its QGIS team</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div>
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<span><img height="65" width="59" apple-inline="yes" id="FD03AA9B-64FA-4A43-A037-FC9A645D84F8" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:879A6E78-CA46-47B2-AA0E-1810BD833229" class=""></span><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; line-height: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">---</div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Tim Sutton</b></div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class="">QGIS Project Steering Committee Chair</div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><a href="mailto:tim@qgis.org" class="">tim@qgis.org</a></div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; line-height: normal;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
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