[OSGeo-Discuss] Costly FOSS4Gs

[Bruce Bannerman]

Hello Ravi,

I have not really been following this discussion closely, but I can see from this email that you are upset.

I’m not sure what it is that you are upset over based on the few lines in your email.

I suspect that the issue may be:

"Is there a solution to OSGeo FOSS4G events, that are affordable to Users/Developers/Students..”

If my assumption is not correct, then I apologise for the comments below.
 

From my perspective:

Having been a member of a FOSS4G LOC (2009), I know how much effort is required to run a successful conference.

In our planning, we kept as a primary driver that we would need to minimise costs, but still deliver a professional conference.

This is not an easy thing to do. On the whole, I think that FOSS4G LOC typically strike a good balance.


When you look at the costs associated with a person attending a typical international FOSS4G event, the actual conference fees a small amount of the actual cost.

Consider airfares, transportation, accomodation, meals, lost wages etc. There is nothing that an LOC can do about these individual costs.



Affordability is an subjective term and will be viewed differently for each person, depending on their income, funds available and the value that they place on the event.

There are many events that I’d love to go to, but cannot afford to attend. This includes many FOSS4G events unfortunately.


I have noted a trend over many years to try and make videos of FOSS4G sessions available online for community members who were not able to attend an event to get an idea of what was presented.

Perhaps this will have to suffice for people who decide that in their circumstances, they cannot afford to attend a FOSS4G event?


Kind regards,

Bruce






> On 18 Oct 2017, at 4:57 pm, Ravi Kumar <manarajahmundry2015 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> GFOSS.. Commercial Support.. +1 for this.
> But.. now that this has come to a boil..
> 
> WHY NOT THE BOARD AND WOULD BE BOARD COME OUT CLEAR ON THIS..
> SURE THIS WILL HELP THE CHARTER.. WHOM TO VOTE..
> 'Free and Open Source'.. has brought to where we are.. This is a community effort.
> 
> Is there a solution to OSGeo FOSS4G events, that are affordable to Users/Developers/Students..
> 
> Ravi Kumar
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 17, 2017 at 3:45 PM, Tom Chadwin <tom.chadwin at nnpa.org.uk> wrote:
> 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:
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