[OSGeo-Discuss] Costly FOSS4Gs

[Tom Chadwin]

Hello all

A significant group who have possibly not yet chimed in on this issue are the commercial organizations who sell GFOSS support and development. I presume that FOSS4G is one of their best opportunities to get new business.

I know there have been recent discussions/disagreements on this list about how far OSGeo should promote commercial organizations. However, these companies are the crucial element in GFOSS adoption in many larger public- and private-sector bodies. Many simply will not entertain GFOSS without commercial support, many believe the old myth that open source means no support, and many simply will not accept the risk of GFOSS without that support.

My point is that GFOSS would not have anything like the market penetration it now does without commercial companies offering open-source support and development. As I say, I stand to be corrected, but FOSS4G surely enables them to persuade others to migrate to GFOSS, which is to the whole community's benefit.

Thanks

Tom

PS  Please forgive enormous corporate sigfile...


Tom Chadwin, ICT Manager
Telephone: 01434 611530 Mob:
Web: www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk<http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/>

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