[Board] Teach-in 2009

[Arnulf Christl]

> Similarly, I have heard that some folks in government in Canada are
> finding it hard to get approvals for the 2008 event, even though they
> have costed it out, and found it less than $1000 more expensive than
> attending the San Diego ESRI event, even though the FOSS4G event is
> half-way around the world.

I heard about that one too. But this is a political thing that should have been addressed immediately when it arose. We had the like discussion here and we started an uproar and "they" rowed back as fast as they could and allowed their people to go. 

Paul,
didn't you mention just that in your Robocop paper? Allow public servants to represent their public interest. This is a different thing altogether and has nothing to do with the proposed teach-in. For this kind of political information dissemination and leverage we badly need OSGeo. Your word is good at the techi and community level - but not when talking to a state government. The government will listen to OSGeo - but if they can see it tied to a commercial interest then they will loose their faith in the reputation of being a community non-profit organization. Regardless of whether the directors do not vote. OSGeo is leaderless if all the directors with commercial interest step back.