Islandwood Code sprint (was Re: [Board] New MOUs proposed...)

[Howard Butler]

On Sep 4, 2011, at 9:32 AM, Mark Lucas wrote:

> As a somewhat distant observer, there are two levels of discussion:
> 
> 1)  What are the priorities for the board, how much financial bandwidth do we have
> 
> 2)  Can we help with a near term financial guarantee for a code sprint
> 
> The discussion on Islandwood seems to indicate that it is fairly low risk, supported by trusted and well respected OSGeo contributors.  I think we all want to see these types of events flourish.  I am not of the opinion that these events are at the very top of our priority list - we should support where we can.  

What *is* the top of our priority list?  

I can see things from Jeroen's perspective of unfairness, especially for a similarly-priced event. The North American event is unique in that it has moved around every year, much like FOSS4G, increasing the uncertainty and providing a "newness" to its new organizer every year.   Considering this, however, OSGeo should be providing backstop for the Bolsena event as well. I mean, how inane is OSGeo if it can't provide support (note, this is not even direct financial support -- it is merely equivalent to event insurance) for *actual development of software* for its projects? We've wrung our hands about providing direct financial support ala Mozilla Foundation. We've wrung our hands about providing consistent training services (excepting FOSS4G workshops) by selling OSGeo as a brand. If you're a software project, what is the point of hitching your wagon to OSGeo? 

> In this case I think we probably will once everyone is comfortable with the financial risk.
> 
> I'm hoping we can focus on taking OSGeo to the next level in terms of sponsorship, profitable events, and revenue streams so that these types of decisions become easier to make.  I believe we have made significant progress with our marketing in establishing OSGeo as a desired corporate and government partner.

This is going to come off sounding like a jerk, but a desired corporate and government partner to do what, exactly?  Certainly not to foster software development if we can't even backstop organized development events. These sprint events are the place were real cross pollination and real project integration happens. Joe and Mike meet at the sprint, discuss how to make things work together, sketch things out, and go home with a plan. At Joe and Mike's next software release, things now work together.  In my opinion, if I were a sponsor, I feel like I'm getting way more leverage out of something like this than I do from a MOU or marketing slick.

> Sorry if I missed it, but if OSGeo backs the Islandwood sprint and the event returns a profit, where do those profits go?  If events such as these can be structured to help build our financial resources they might be easier to evaluate and prioritize.

To support ongoing sprint events. We're talking $100-$2000 here.

I know I sound like a harpy negative nilly. As I've stated, I'm frustrated with OSGeo's listlessness. The listlessness is not from lack of effort, it is from lack of focus. Not making a decision is a decision.

Howard