[Board] Resurrecting the Eclipse discussion

Tue Jun 12 09:20:15 PDT 2012

I for one am not opposed to playing footsie (and, indeed, welcome our
new corporate overlords</gratuitousreference>), but at the end of the
day wonder "what does it mean?" What concrete actions would arise from
this talking? Projects dual-listed as "OSGeo projects" and "Eclipse
projects". Are we just saying that we don't expect our projects to "go
steady" with us (do we even currently expect them to? I don't think
so?) Are we saying more than that? I guess it never got past the
footsie stage so people are probably reacting to the blank slate of
possibilities by projecting their own worst (best) interpretations of
what *could* happen.

P.

On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 9:16 AM, Michael P. Gerlek <mpg at flaxen.com> wrote:
> The board motion I proposed earlier was to encourage our projects to work with the Eclipse Foundation where it made sense to do so. It was intended to be a simple and relatively mild proposal as a first step towards working together in the future. Unfortunately, the reaction to this was negative and in some (off-list) cases downright hostile.
>
> Given that reaction, I suspect it unlikely the Eclipse Foundation would be willing to sponsor OSGeo at this time. I'm certainly not willing to re-enter the fray without strong support from others in OSGeo.
>
> _mpg
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Seven (aka Arnulf)
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 7:39 AM
> To: board at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Board] Resurrecting the Eclipse discussion
>
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>
> Mark,
> this is a good summary, thanks.
>
> In my understanding we already decided to go ahead with continue talking to the Eclipse Foundation. But we need a primary contact on our side who leads this effort and maybe Michael is frustrated enough to not want to take the lead here (Michael, can you chime in please?).
>
> My proposal was to ask Eclipse to become a strategic sponsor - and work out together with them what this will exactly "buy" them. I would be happy to explore this together with someone from Eclipse but as I am in Europe and most of the rest of the board is in Northern Americas it might make more sense to have someone else take this on. Ideas?
>
> Best regards,
> Arnulf
>
>
> On 11.06.2012 15:58, Mark Lucas wrote:
>> OSGeo future and Eclipse?
>>
>> Sorry I haven't gotten back to this earlier.
>>
>> I hope this won't be misinterpreted so let me emphasize a couple of
>> points:
>>
>> I believe the OSGeo is the global leader in open source geospatial
>> development We have the top projects as members, we have
>> infrastructure that supports development, we host great international,
>> regional and local conferences. I am also very impressed with the
>> caliber of the committees and board members
>>
>> I would like to see us preserve all of that an enhance it.
>>
>> There is always room for improvement and areas of concern, maybe some
>> of those could be addressed through a relationship with another entity
>> - such as Eclipse.
>>
>> 1) We have no staff 2) Our president is stepping down - who is the
>> face of OSGeo? 3) We spend much more time discussing how we spend the
>> little money we have then how we raise more funding 4) There is not
>> any real focus on open source business models 5) Many of the ex
>> Directors, open source geospatial companies,  and key contributors are
>> focusing on other avenues (DM Solutions, OpenGeo, Autodesk,
>> RadiantBlue, ESRI, Oracle just off the top of my head). 6) I'm worried
>> how we sustain and grow the organization
>>
>> Please don't take this as a doom and gloom forecast.  We have success
>> and inertia behind us, as the board we have the obligation to guide
>> the organization.  Now is the time to think about the way ahead.  I'm
>> all for exploring a relationship with Eclipse if we believe it
>> preserves our strengths and helps to address my concerns.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 11, 2012, at 9:12 AM, Jo Cook wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I have been chatting to someone who it turns out is peripherally
>>> involved in the Eclipse LWG and is going to be in on a conference
>>> call with them on Thursday. He has a small open source GIS project,
>>> and they have offered to put it under their banner. He is ambivalent,
>>> but I've asked him for some more background on what they offer, and
>>> any process that projects would need to go through. I'm hoping that
>>> this will fill in some of the gaps that those of us (me in
>>> particular) had about what Eclipse are offering, so that we can
>>> kick-start the discussion again- hopefully a bit more positively this
>>> time with the additional background.
>>>
>>> I hope that's useful, and that people feel the discussion is worth
>>> kick-starting- I certainly do. If so, I'll report back towards the
>>> end of the week when I have some more information.
>>>
>>> All the best
>>>
>>> Jo -- ***Jo Cook* Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West
>>> Street, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 7RL, UK t:+44 750 095 8167 iShare - Data
>>> integration and publishing platform <http://www.isharemaps.com/>
>>>
>>> *****************************************
>>>
>>> Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England and Wales.
>>> Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey,
>>> KT19 8LN VAT no. 864201149.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing list
>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> - --
> Exploring Space, Time and Mind
> http://arnulf.us
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