[OSGeo-Discuss] Supporting new projects

[Paul Spencer]

On 1-Oct-07, at 2:03 PM, Howard Butler wrote:

> On Sep 30, 2007, at 4:10 PM, Paul Spencer wrote:
>
>> What do others think about this?  Should OSGeo be in the business  
>> of helping new OSGeo projects get off the ground?
>
> I don't think OSGeo should generally be in the business of getting  
> new projects off the ground.  I think a project should establish  
> *itself* as a viable development entity before entertaining a  
> relationship with OSGeo.
>
> OSGeo promoting startup project "Foo" has the effect of giving it  
> equal weight to all of the other projects within OSGeo.  In my  
> opinion, this has the effect of weakening OSGeo's promotional  
> authority and providing an unnatural advantage to the Foo project.   
> Growth that is too fast for a project can be just as detrimental as  
> growth that is too slow.  A project jumping into OSGeo and having  
> it provide "umph" for the project disrupts the organic growth that  
> I think is necessary for a project to become viable and  
> successful.  A project must find its niche on its own and garner  
> development and developer traction because it fills a need, not  
> because OSGeo says "you should use this great new thing because ...".
>
> OSGeo's provides infrastructure to its member projects as an  
> enticement to join.  There are many options for a project's  
> infrastructure, with everything from sourceforge to google code to  
> standing up your own.  OSGeo's infrastructure approach stands out  
> because a project can collectively leverage other project's  
> infrastructure while still having the flexibility to do pretty much  
> whatever you want (given time/resources/volunteers).  OSGeo's  
> infrastructure is not a push-button operation though, and I don't  
> think it would be as successful if it were (dealing with Google  
> code or sourceforge is going to be much simpler than trying to deal  
> with us, frankly).
>
> I think a project needs to read Fogel (http://producingoss.com/),  
> find its niche, grow a community around the development of the  
> software, and then look to OSGeo for promotional, infrastructure,  
> legal, and other support.

Thanks Howard.  What I am concerned with is people who have a great  
idea but don't know what to do with it, or how one goes about  
establishing a viable community.  The people that I spoke with last  
week didn't know how to get started.  I am convinced that there are  
more people, especially outside north america, who can't make it to  
FOSS4G just to ask someone.  Not reaching out a helping hand to those  
projects seems a little harsh to me.

Maybe it is enough to have a section on the OSGeo web site something  
like:

'Have a Great Idea?'

Here's how you can get started ...

1. read the following web sites ...

2. get a home at sourceforge or ... or ...

3. promote yourself on the following lists: ...

Paul

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|Paul Spencer                          pspencer at dmsolutions.ca    |
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|Chief Technology Officer                                         |
|DM Solutions Group Inc                http://www.dmsolutions.ca/ |
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