[Benchmarking] Re: FOSS4G wms shootout

[Cameron Shorter]

After discussion on IRC with members of the Benchmarking team, and then 
on the phone with Satish, we have agreed to keep this announcement low key.

I've copied ESRI's position (from this email thread)  earlier onto the 
web page at:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_Press_Release_38
I plan to leave this message here. (if would remain in the archive if I 
removed it), but do not plan to run it through our usual email lists.

Satish has agreed that it should be mentioned in the performance 
shootout that ESRI is unable to participate. Unless Satish provides 
alternative words, I suggest picking appropriate words from:
"ESRI has informed the organizers of the FOSS4G their inability to 
continue participating in the WMS shootout event because of other 
priority obligations that have emerged and resource availability 
constraints. ESRI has informed us that they will nevertheless continue 
their participation in the Climate Challenge Integration Plugfest event 
at the conference. While we would have liked to have seen ESRI's 
participation in the event, we understand their commitment to their 
users and appreciate their efforts to date. We look forward to seeing 
them at FOSS4G in the weeks ahead. "

--
OSGeo reasons for keeping low key:
* "ESRI participation in the WMS Shootout was going to be a highlight of 
our conference. Highlighting the opposite will be encouraging people not 
to attend."

* ESRI reaching out to OSGeo like they have been doing is very valuable 
from a marketing perspective for Open Source as much as it is for ESRI. 
It shows integration of our products. ESRI have been working very hard 
on the WMS Shootout, and have conflicting resourcing priorities which 
have caused them to have to pull out. It must have been a very hard call 
for ESRI to do this, and we should do our best to help them through 
this, so that they are inclined to continue with these activities in future.

Satish Sankaran wrote:
> Jeff,
>
> 	We would prefer the approach you suggest here.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Satish
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff McKenna [mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:35 PM
> To: Performance testing of OSGeo and other web service engines.
> Cc: Satish Sankaran
> Subject: Re: [Benchmarking] Re: FOSS4G wms shootout
>
> As discussed on IRC, most of us feel that a public statement is not 
> required, but we will mention in the presentation that both ERDAS and 
> ESRI were involved in discussions early on, and we hope that both will 
> be involved in next year's exercise.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
> Cameron Shorter wrote:
>   
>> Satish,
>> I'm forwarding this email to the benchmarking email list, with your 
>> comments snipped out. Feel free to add back in.
>>
>> On IRC we have been discussing how to down play this announcement.
>> I'll let others add their suggestions.
>>
>> Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>     
>>> Thanks Satish,
>>>
>>> Our original press release went out to:
>>> 1. Our osgeo-discuss email list, ~ 1000 Open Source Geospatial 
>>> developers worldwide
>>> 2. http://slashgeo.org with ~ 10,000 hits per day
>>> 3. my blog with is incorporated into blog agregators, I'm not sure how 
>>> widely.
>>> 4. People interested in foss4g list, collected over the years, ~ 
>>> 10,000 people.
>>>
>>> I propose to send your message back through the first 3 channels. 
>>> Instead of going through the forth channel, I might just email to 
>>> foss4g attendees. Does that fit with your suggestion?
>>>
>>>
>>> Satish Sankaran wrote:
>>>       
>>>> <snip>
>>>>         
>>>> We would really appreciate it if you can provide a low-key release of 
>>>> the following message.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Message
>>>>
>>>> "ESRI has informed the organizers of the FOSS4G their inability to 
>>>> continue participating in the wms shootout event because of other 
>>>> priority obligations that have emerged and resource availability 
>>>> constraints.   ESRI has informed us that they will nevertheless 
>>>> continue their participation in the Climate Challenge Integration 
>>>> Plugfest event at the conference.  While we would have liked to have 
>>>> seen ESRI's participation in the event, we understand their 
>>>> commitment to their users and appreciate their efforts to date. We 
>>>> look forward to seeing them at FOSS4G in the weeks ahead."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> With kind regards,
>>>>
>>>> satish
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Cameron Shorter [mailto:cameron.shorter at lisasoft.com] Sent: 
>>>> Monday, October 12, 2009 7:16 PM
>>>> To: Satish Sankaran
>>>> Cc: jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com; Paul Ramsey; Frank Warmerdam
>>>> Subject: Re: FOSS4G wms shootout
>>>>
>>>> Satish,
>>>> I understand that this must have been a difficult decision for you, 
>>>> and you wouldn't have taken it lightly.
>>>>
>>>> I also see this as a blow for both of us from a marketing perspective 
>>>> as there has been a buzz created around the collaboration between 
>>>> ESRI and Open Source communities here, and it will be noticed that 
>>>> ESRI is not involved in this WMS Shootout.
>>>>
>>>> In particular, our joint WMS Shootout press release was broadcast 
>>>> very widely.
>>>>
>>>> What options do we have available to us with regards to saving face 
>>>> here?
>>>> * Are we able to reduce scope of ESRI's participation in the shootout 
>>>> to keep it manageable?
>>>> * Is there someone else available to support ESRI?
>>>> * Alternatively, is ESRI planning to make an announcement publicly, 
>>>> or should we be doing that?
>>>>
>>>> Satish Sankaran wrote:
>>>>   <snip>
>>>>   
>>>>         
>>>       
>>     
>
>
>   


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
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