[OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory

[Michael P. Gerlek]

How's this:

I'd be willing to see ~1 line of text (name, link, 20 word summary) for
any organizing willing to say that they "provide software or services in
support of OSGeo's goals and mission" or some such.  If ESRI is willing
to agree to that statement, then great!  By making the organization
explicitly agree to that statement at the top of the page, then we limit
just anyone from using our "advert service" for free.  (Worst case, the
Board or some delegated authority thereof is in charge of investigating
and removing fraudalent listings if/when any complaints come in.)

All of that is a free service we would provide to the community of OSGeo
users and supporters.

Then:

If the organization pays us $X, then they can also get more/better
stuff: use of the "I'm a sponsor" icon in their listing, an additional
20 words of description, their own company logo in the listing,
placement on a better/preferred page, personalized message of
endorsement from Dave M, etc :-)

-mpg
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jason Birch [mailto:Jason.Birch at nanaimo.ca] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 3:49 PM
> To: Dave McIlhagga
> Cc: Tyler Mitchell; dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
> Subject: RE: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
> 
> 
> My point was that if ESRI (or Autodesk or anyone) wants to define
> themselves as an open source solution provider, then they would be
> welcome on the list.  They would also select the applications 
> that they
> provide solutions for from a fixed list.  This isn't a "keep ESRI out"
> organisation, it's an organisation for promoting open source software.
> Getting ESRI on the list would actually be a big win for us :)
> 
> Jason
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 15:43
> To: Jason Birch
> Cc: Tyler Mitchell; dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
> 
> Ok - so let's try a specific example, that would happen to 
> affect me, to
> see how this would work.
> 
> So based on this argument - DM Solutions could list our new DMSG
> Premiere commercial support service for MapGuide Open Source (because
> it's based on the open source technology), but Autodesk couldn't list
> MGE Subscription because it's a proprietary product based on MGOS.
> 
> Furthermore - Autodesk business partners who provide services 
> around MGE
> could not list their services, but DMSG business partners for DMSG
> Premiere could list their services ... Sounds good to me :) but
> seriously I really don't think this would be appropriate. In 
> particular
> I have very big concerns about OSGeo defining who is open source
> friendly, and who is not.
> 
> This is just one example of a potential major problem with going down
> this road.
> 
> 
> You don't see an equivalent of this in the Apache Foundation 
> -- likely 
> for precisely this reason.
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jason Birch wrote:
> > We would police reactively.  If the community notices a 
> provider that
> > does not actually offer the services stated, we'd take care of them
> > (euphemism?).
> > 
> > The intention was to make this a service (not product) directory for
> > providers that give support directly for open source packages.  I
> don't
> > think that ESRI offers direct support for GDAL, but if they 
> do I think
> > that they would be welcomed in the list.
> > 
> > Excluding languages and products from the directory would limit its
> > usefulness to the users.
> > 
> > Jason 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca] 
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 14:34
> > To: Jason Birch
> > Cc: Tyler Mitchell; dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
> > Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
> > 
> > I understand both needs for sure -- just trying to see if there is a
> > means to achieve both goals.
> > 
> > Perhaps one way to make this simpler would be to restrict 
> the service
> > provider directory to simply an organization name and link 
> to website
> so
> > that it doesn't cannibalize the promotional opportunity on the
> > sponsorship side. Otherwise we have this weird situation 
> where you can
> > get more info available to people for free than you can get by being
> an
> > Associate Sponsor.
> > 
> > 
> > Also - how is this policed? Who has authority to determine that
> Company
> > X is a valid service provider, and Company Y is not? That seems like
> > some very murky water to me. ESRI has GDAL built into their software
> --
> > so can they include their services on OSGeo? If we say no to ESRI,
> would
> > we not have to say no to Autodesk since MapGuide Enterprise is a
> > proprietary bundling of MGOS? That doesn't seem fair. OTOH if we say
> > anybody can be a service provider if they make use of any OSGeo
> > technology (which is most of the Geospatial universe) -- 
> than is there
> > any value to it?
> > 
> > Ok - devil's advocate I know ... I'm not suggesting one 
> thing is right
> > or wrong -- simply that it gets extremely gray. We might be 
> creating a
> > monster we don't know how to manage down the road.
> > 
> > Dave
> > 
> > --
> > Dave McIlhagga
> > President, DM Solutions Group
> > 
> > http://www.dmsolutions.ca/premiere
> > EMail : dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca
> > Phone : 613-565-5056 x15
> > Fax : 613-565-0925
> > 
> > Jason Birch wrote:
> >> Sponsors will be listed on the "Sponsors" page, and will 
> be entitled 
> >> to place an OSGeo Sponsor graphic on their website; these benefits 
> >> will not be diluted.
> >>
> >> We talked about having an appropriate "sponsor" flag show 
> up next to 
> >> the listing?
> >>
> >> I think that it's important that we maintain a directory 
> that doesn't
> 
> >> require sponsorship, while making sponsorship of value to those 
> >> entering their details into the directory.
> >>
> >> Consultants will initially enter their details into the list, and
> then
> > 
> >> consider sponsorship as a way of increasing their 
> visibility within 
> >> the list?
> >>
> >> Jason
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 14:05
> >> To: Tyler Mitchell
> >> Cc: dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
> >> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
> >>
> >> Could this diminish value of some of the OSGeo 
> Sponsorships? Visible 
> >> association for companies with OSGeo was one of the 
> benefits we had 
> >> outlined for some of the packages -- so this would make 
> that case a 
> >> lot more difficult.
> >>
> >> Dave
> >>
> >> Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> >>> On 26-Sep-06, at 11:21 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> >>>> Tyler, could you add a link to the entry form on the community
> site?
> >>>> I can't
> >>>> seem to find it.
> >>> Done, added it to the bottom of your wiki page.
> >>>
> >>>
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