[Board] Eclipse - some more thoughts

[Andrew Ross]

Hi Everyone,

Arnulf questioned why I edited some of the changes he made on the FAQ 
<http://wiki.eclipse.org/Location/FAQ>.

I'd like to share a few thoughts here in the form of clearing up some 
misconceptions he seemed to have. Hopefully this helps.

1) Openness, transparency, and vendor neutrality

Arnulf wrote: "please feel free to talk to the board list of OSGeo, you 
are more than welcome there (that list is open to anybody, another 
fundamental difference to how Eclipse operates)."

At Eclipse, the discussion forums, IRC, wiki, bug tracker, code 
repositories, many of the conference calls, events, board minutes, etc. 
are all public. These principles are part of everything the Eclipse 
Foundation does so this statement insinuating otherwise is bogus.

You'll find the mailing list & archives here: 
https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/location-iwg is open to anyone 
who's interested.

2) Membership base @ Eclipse is a weakness, few sponsors at OSGeo is a 
strength

Arnulf wrote: "On one side this makes OSGeo staff-less but otoh is a 
strength because it also makes OSGeo independent from the whims and ups 
and downs of commercial organizations. This is a central feature of 
OSGeo and cannot be one of Eclipse."

This image is relevant:
http://i.imgur.com/1SoxE.jpg

Let's be realistic, OSGeo would have been glad to keep previous sponsors 
and have others as well. Calling it a " feature" is being rather 
dismissive of the issues that caused the companies to leave. Others 
would likely use stronger language. ;-)

A large member body and a mature governance model helps to smooth out 
the ups & downs of any one organization. Having organizations engaged is 
a good thing... it subsidizes the things that cost money and it brings 
valuable ideas, mind-share, energy, and relevance.

The bottom line is the governance model @ Eclipse is a bit different and 
it provides professional services to projects in addition to volunteer 
energy.  It is every bit as community & project focused. Some projects 
will love it, others not so much. But choice - both, one, the other, 
neither isn't a bad thing.

If possible, I'd love to shift the conversation to the positive things 
we can do together. Talking about it is likely going to be more fun & 
interesting. Here are just a few ideas:

  * Events... regional, global, virtual, meet-ups, code sprints
  * New project ideas
  * Getting organizations involved with existing projects
  * Creating a simultaneous release of location technology

Andrew
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