[OSGeo-Discuss] 5 Star OSGeo project maturity rating

Mark Leslie mark.leslie at lisasoft.com
Mon Jun 7 21:27:22 EDT 2010 

At the risk of sounding like a troll, why are we putting non-OSGeo 
projects on OSGeo marketing material?  If this is in fact the purpose of 
the Live-DVD, then the best way of identifying 2 or 3 of the best 
packages available for users to trial is to only include 2 or 3 of the 
best packages on the disk.  Presumably these could be graduated projects.

--
Mark


Cameron Shorter wrote:
>   There have been some passionate views against rating projects.
> 
> Maybe I should start by explaining the drivers which led to the proposal 
> for a 5 star rating.
> 
> Previously only OSGeo graduated and incubation projects were promoted by 
> OSGeo at conferences and the like, however, with the OSGeo LiveDVD, we 
> are packaging and hence promoting many non-graduated projects. How do we 
> credit that a project has gone through the extensive graduation process 
> in our marketing material in a manner that will be understood by the 
> target audience?
> 
> Unfortunately, putting "OSGeo Graduated" against a project is 
> meaningless because the target audience usually hasn't heard of OSGeo 
> and is even less likely to know what "Graduated" means.
> 
> We could write a paragrah explaining what OSGeo and Graduation are on 
> each Project Overview flier, but that wastes valuable marketing real-estate.
> 
> Note: I'm basing our target audience on the typical profile of people 
> who drop by the OSGeo booth at conferences. They pick up a LiveDVD and 
> fliers which have "Open Source" on the cover. They are typically GIS 
> users, have heard of Open Source and want to know what Open Source 
> packages are available to replace their existing XXXX, but usually 
> haven't heard of OSGeo and almost certainly don't know about the 
> graduation process. They want to know about the best 2 or 3 packakges 
> they should consider, and they definitely don't want to have to trawl 
> through 350 software packages on http://freegis.org . They spend 5 to 20 
> minutes talking at the OSGeo stand, then walk onto the other 50 
> exhibition booths at the conference.
> Visitors to the OSGeo website are probably similar in profile, but we 
> don't get such a good opportunity to meet them face to face as we do at 
> conferences.
> 
> So the challenge is:
> * How do we credit OSGeo Graduated projects in a manner understandable 
> to GIS users new to Open Source?
> * How can we credit other stable Open Source projects, while still 
> acknowledging the extra kudos of passing graduation?
> * How can we provide this message distinctly on marketing material so 
> that it doesn't waste valuable marketing real-estate?
> 
> 
> On 08/06/10 02:30, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
>>
>> [foolishly stepping in where I should fear to tread…]
>>
>> This has been asked for before, but historically some projects have 
>> not step up to the plate for providing such materials – for a variety 
>> of reasons, some good and some not so good.
>>
>> OSGeo should simply put a link to the project’s “marketing” section, 
>> and if the project owners provide content on the other end, then good 
>> – if not, then so be it.
>>
>> I’m all about providing quality user experiences, but anything more 
>> than that is likely not worth the effort required.  Our users are, for 
>> the most part, a very savvy and discriminating bunch.  And for apps 
>> that are explicitly targeting users outside of the normal open source 
>> types, it should be up to them to provide the “marketing” materials 
>> they deem appropriate.
>>
>> -mpg
>>
>>  
>>
>> *From:* discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
>> <mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> 
>> [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *On Behalf Of *Bob Basques
>> *Sent:* Monday, June 07, 2010 9:24 AM
>> *To:* OSGeo Discussions
>> *Subject:* Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] 5 Star OSGeo project maturity rating
>>
>>  
>>
>> All,
>>
>>  
>>
>> Did anyone else hear that thunder in the distance?  :c)
>>
>>  
>>
>> That's what I've been trying to say, let the projects handle this sort 
>> of thing themselves, but OSGEO CAN (and SHOULD in my mind) coordinate 
>> a standardized look and feel to such things.
>>
>>  
>>
>> bobb
>>
>>  
>>
>>
>>
>> >>> Howard Butler <hobu.inc at gmail.com> <mailto:hobu.inc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Jun 7, 2010, at 11:03 AM, Bob Basques wrote:
>>
>> > Wouldn't it seem prudent to classify the projects before trying to 
>> compare them?
>>
>> /me screams into a room that no one can hear.  Stop it!
>>
>> This whole exercise is quite frankly, masturbatory, and does nothing 
>> to help the projects who would be rated, provides very little to those 
>> "users" of said ratings, and calls into question our credibility by 
>> having the arrogance to rate *our own* projects in any way.  OSGeo is 
>> doing enough by providing visibility for the projects, and it is up to 
>> them to pull them in as users with the quality of their software, the 
>> quality of their documentation, and the quality of their community.  A 
>> silly sticker by us or anyone else isn't going to sway that process in 
>> any way.
>>
>> It would be more valuable to collate a series of "elevator pitch"-type 
>> material from each project who wishes to participate to make their 
>> case to the envisioned users of this rating.  Projects who do not 
>> participate in this for whatever reason implicitly make a statement 
>> about their quality. That's going to be far more useful to both the 
>> projects and the users than an elongating graphic.
>>
>> Howard_______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>   
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>   
> 
> 
> -- 
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Director
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
> 
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com
> 
> 
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