[OSGeo-Discuss] Possible candidates?

[Landon Blake]

I can provide an answer for OpenJUMP. There are actually a couple
reasons why I have not pushed for OpenJUMP to become an OSGeo project.

[1] I don't know that we have the resources to become the type of
project the OSGeo is looking for, at least not at this point. We don't
have any large corporate or government sponsors. We are more like a
bunch of guys working in their garages. This means our administration
and governance are all very informal. We don't really have any rules or
procedures. I have tried to inject more structure in the past, but it
didn't seem to fit well with our community. I've totally backed off this
stance. Our actual pace of development is fairly slow and very modular,
so this lack of structure hasn't been a problem for us (yet).

[2] I don't want to cause conflicts with GeoTools. In some sense we
compete with GeoTools. The competition is not direct, because we follow
an alternative methodology. GeoTools seems to favor standard compliance
and comprehensive functionality, while OpenJUMP favors simplicity and
practicality. It seemed when this was discussed previously that the hope
was other FOSS Java GIS projects would eventually adopt GeoTools as a
library. At the time I hoped that would also be the case. Now I realize
that OpenJUMP and its family provide a healthy alternative to GeoTools.
(Please don't misunderstand this as a knock on GeoTools. I didn't say
OpenJUMP was better, just different.)

Having said all this, I'm still not sure if we should cloud the OSGeo
pool with an alternative set of FOSS Java GIS libraries. I guess I'm
content to let things play out. If OpenJUMP survives as a simple and
practical alternative to GeoTools for three or four years, then it might
make more sense to bring it into the GeoTools fold. If not, GeoTools
will reign supreme, as it should. In a sense this would be good for all
of us, because it will focus development efforts on a single set of core
Java libraries. However, I think there will be some issues in GeoTools
that will need to be resolved before they can win enough programmers
over. Until that happens, OpenJUMP and its offspring will be crawling
along.

Despite my reservations about suggesting to fellow OpenJUMP programmers
that we make OpenJUMP a OSGeo project, I do try to be actively involved
in OSGeo. It is an important organization. I think OpenJUMP programmers
can do more good in this support capacity at this point in time.

The Sunburned Surveyor

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Milo van der
Linden
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 11:03 AM
To: discuss at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Possible candidates?

Hello list,

I was just wondering why the following list of initiatives are not 
present in OSGeo, is it for a reason?

- OpenJUMP
- uDig
- Geoserver

Any comment appreciated,

Kind regards,

Milo van der Linden
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


Warning:
Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately.