[OSGeo-Discuss] Software Standards - The Ugly Truth

[Dave Patton]

Blammo wrote:

> I'm not sure what to do about the monetary aspects of the Standards 
> participation.

What is needed is the equivalent of an "angel investor":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_investors

By that what I mean is a corporate entity that will
step forward and setup a model where money that would
otherwise be spent on memberships in standards bodies, etc.,
is put into a business model whereby the money funds
things like infrastructure, grants to individuals or
companies to provide resources to work on reference
implementations of standards, legal fees to make sure
that nobody can monopolize the results of the process,
etc. Such corporate entities have to be forward thinking,
and can gain competitive advantages in terms of good will,
being involved with a wide spectrum of development and
intellectual talent, and maybe even attracting some
'anti-establishment types' to work for 'their team' ;-)

-- 
Dave Patton

Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/

Personal website - Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/