[OSGeo-Discuss] Report from the OSGeo Board meeting

[karsten vennemann]

Yes indeed I can only echo what Gary wrote in his email.

I might get ahead of myself with too many assumptions here - before the
board even outlined the full reasoning for this decision of eliminating the
executive directors position. 
But in fact the reasons have not been clearly communicated in Arnulf's
summary thus I am just continuing the discussion here. I am very curious how
eliminating the only paid staff position that OSGeo had will really benefit
the well being of the organization. Obviously there are as many opinions
about how OSGEO should be run as OSGeo as we have members ;) 
For me as a GIS professional and business owner it is a
"no-brainer"(american slang) that a global professional organization simply
cannot be run professionally with out any paid staff, or at the very least
not very well. Volunteers are great but can do only that much. I am thinking
especially of the areas of professional
Marketing,  Education,  and User support + outreach. 
>From my perspective it is imperative to have a well coordinated,
professional (yes therefore paid!!!!!) position to support these and other
tasks OSGeo performs day to day as a global entity.

If there are new directions the OSGeo board is planning to follow, that do
really support OSGeo as an professional organization, I would encourage that
the planning behind this and the details will communicated to the members.

Cheers
Karsten


Karsten Vennemann
Principal

Terra GIS LTD
2119 Boyer Ave E 
Seattle, WA  98112
USA 
www.terragis.net