[OSGeo-Discuss] Return on Equity

[Frank Warmerdam]

Landon Blake wrote:
> Promotion and support of open source software is an important part of
> what we do at the OSGeo. But if you really want to make OSGeo an
> organization that matters to the general public you have to see it as an
> organization that promotes the use of open source GIS to solve the
> bigger challenges listed above. My "return on equity" from the OSGeo is
> the opportunity to do some of those things. I don't want to just write
> great open source software, I want to do great things with the software
> I write. I think the OSGeo can provide me the opportunity to do that.

Landon,

I think this is an interesting point.  A part of why I write open source
software is that I want my software to be used, and in particular I want
my software to enable things of social value that might not otherwise
have happened.

If there are people willing to help make it happen, I'd like to see OSGeo
support socially relavent organizations in use of open source software.

I'm not so such I worry about OSGeo an organization that matters to the
general public.  I'd be pleased to see it matter to developers and users
of open source geospatial software (and helping to grow that pool).

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org