[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: [OSGeo_discuss] Re: FOSS GIS in India

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

On 11-Aug-07, at 9:08 PM, RAVI KUMAR wrote:
> Emphasis is to be on GIS tools and principles, and not on GIS brand  
> labels.

This is the important part for me, allow me to take it a step  
further.  One of my interests is to see professionals develop their  
skills for geospatial analysis, mapping, etc.  This does not require  
any particular brand of software.  However, professionals who build  
their skills on top of open source tools have complete freedom,  
motivation and encouragement in their careers without licensing  
constraints.  As long as the concepts are well taught, they can  
likely learn (or re-train) to cover any particular instance of  
geospatial applications in any workplace.

In the bigger picture this is a conflict between corporate  
"standards" and recognising professional choice or capabilities.  We  
know that all too often proposals or contracts require specific  
software - often without any rationale except comfort by the client.   
Instead, is it not in our collective best interests to encourage  
professionals to use the best tool they know to do the job?  This  
takes faith in professional skill sets instead of faith in a  
particular software package.

Whether the package is open source or proprietary is important from a  
licensing or philosophical standpoint, but when I look at people who  
are training to work in the field I'd much rather see them develop/ 
learn tools that they can use for the rest of their careers.   
Unfortunately we aren't required to bring our tools with us to our  
jobs to prove our skills - instead we're given tools within the  
confines of the workplace and expected to know how to use them.  That  
seems reasonable but is very limiting.

Fellow staff that I have worked with in the past have appreciated the  
option of finding the best tool for the job instead of being forced  
to use one that they might never have access to again in the future.

Hope this makes some sense.

Tyler
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