[OSGeo-Discuss] Software Standards - The Ugly Truth

[Raj Singh]

An angel investor is by nature too small and idiosyncratic a group to  
guarantee good results--isn't this the "benevolent dictator" argument  
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator>? If they happen to  
be both well-meaning and right good things can happen. But there's a  
much better chance that at least one of those two conditions won't  
exist, or at least won't exist for long.
---
Raj


On Jun 22, 2007, at 11:09 PM, Dave Patton wrote:

> 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/
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