[Board] Resurrecting the Eclipse discussion

[Cameron Shorter]

What I think will be helpful for moving the OSGeo-Eclipse debate forward 
is defining and writing down "What OSGeo wants out of the relationship".

An example of what I see as a position similar relationship is OGC's 
relationship with the ISO standards organisation. ISO is responsible for 
international standards, and has delegated the development of spatial 
standards down to the OGC. I understand that this has been set up 
through a MoU between OGC and ISO.

I think that OSGeo should say:

* OSGeo wants to continue to be the recognised foundation that 
Geospatial Open Source projects turn to for support. In particular, we 
don't want to see the marketplace split by choosing between one 
foundation and another. Such a slit is likely to create a lot of bad 
will amongst the greater community, and lead to reduced productivity 
which will not be good for anyone.

* As such we wish to see the Eclipse Foundation worth through the OSGeo 
Foundation.

If we can get the Eclipse Foundation to agree to the above, then I think 
we can continue moving forward with a positive discussion.

On 11/06/2012 11:58 PM, 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
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>> <http://www.isharemaps.com/>
>>
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>
>
>
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-- 
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
http://www.lisasoft.com

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