[OSGeo-Discuss] Proprietary GIS on our OSGeo website

[DelazJ]

Hi,

I read this long and passionate thread and, that might have been
proposed earlier, in which case, apologies...but
In case it's not possible to directly state in the website, "Migrate
from XXX proprietary software", what about filling the "Migrate to
Open Source GIS" page with users/customers words? They'd share why
they choose an Open Source project, what they were looking for but
they could also explain why they left their old proprietary software
for a FOSS and if they are happy. I guess in that case it's not OSGeo
that's making a comparison or "tackling" any proprietary software -
just experiences sharing (i'm not a lawyer though).
In backend we could also keep the search tool (suggested by Sandro?)
that would bring newcomers to each story-telling related to a
proprietary tool when they search for that software (still without
exposing those softwares in our site).

Regards,
Harrissou

2017-09-21 23:52 GMT+02:00 Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com>:
> Thanks Even I was going to try and circle back to this today.
>
> We do have the wish to list product names, notably for supported formats and
> interoperability. The http://osgeo.getinteractive.nl/projects/geoserver/
> page lists for example:
>
> Server data from a variety of data sources
> Vector: Shapefiles, External WFS, PostGIS, ArcSDE, DB2, Oracle Spatial,
> MySql, SQL Server and more!
> Raster: GeoTiff, JPG and PNG (with world file), image pyramid, GDAL formats,
> Image Mosaic, Oracle GeoRaster, NetCDF
>
>
> We do have a legitimate reason to use product names, but there is reason to
> be careful/respectful when doing so. In the above list we should probably
> add SQLServer® for example, and a footnote to the page.
>
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
> On 21 September 2017 at 12:10, Even Rouault <even.rouault at spatialys.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On jeudi 21 septembre 2017 11:20:54 CEST Jeffrey Johnson wrote:
>>
>> > We have that kind of page here
>>
>> > http://osgeo.getinteractive.nl/about/migrate-open-source-gis/ ... The
>>
>> > link was removed from the hero area when Steve Feldman changed this in
>>
>> > Boston, so there is no content there now.
>>
>> >
>>
>> > Are we not willing to even mention the names of these proprietary
>>
>> > products for fear of 'promoting' them? Or do we want to present the
>>
>> > user coming from outside our community some context about which open
>>
>> > source projects are an analogue or replacement for the proprietary
>>
>> > products they are already familiar with? Thats the real question in my
>>
>> > mind.
>>
>>
>>
>> I cannot honestly think that anyone would seriously believe we are
>> promoting
>>
>> proprietary software if they are mentionned under a "Migrate from" label.
>> But
>>
>> the point here about if we can legally use other product names (and if
>> that
>>
>> is a use of a trademark) in that context is a good one. They are probably
>> rules
>>
>> and good practices to follow in doing so, which can depend on juridictions
>> (probably
>>
>> US law applies here if the site is hosted in the US).
>>
>> Quickly researching about the topic leads to this article:
>>
>>
>> https://moz.com/blog/comparative-advertsing-can-i-talk-about-my-competitor-on-my-website
>>
>> The bottom line is that there are legal ways of comparing to a competitor
>> (is a
>>
>> "Migrate from XXXX" mention considered as comparative advertising is
>> another questio),
>>
>> but you can still be sued even if you follow the rules, so it is a matter
>> of
>>
>> appreciating the benefit vs the risk. Funnily they recommand to explictly
>> mention
>>
>> that you're not affiliated with the other product owner! (I guess that's
>> in the
>>
>> same vein as the "Caution: Contents Hot" mention on coffee cups ;-))
>>
>>
>>
>> I had a quick look at https://www.libreoffice.org/ to see if they for
>> example
>>
>> mentionned MS Office or Google docs. The only mention of MS Office I could
>> find
>>
>> is at the bottom of
>>
>> https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/ and it is a link to an
>> external
>>
>> site (they do mention the compatibility with Microsft Word, Excel,
>> *formats*,
>>
>> but that's a bit different than comparing to the products themselves).
>>
>> On http://www.openoffice.org/ similar situation, only mention of MS
>> formats,
>>
>> and for compraisons with MS itself, links to externals reviews from
>>
>> http://www.openoffice.org/product/reviews.html
>>
>>
>>
>> Sandro mentionned GIMP's "like Photoshop, only better" motto but on
>>
>> https://www.gimp.org/ no mention of Photoshop I could find
>>
>>
>>
>> If you go on
>> http://www.pitneybowes.com/us/location-intelligence/geographic-information-systems/mapinfo-pro.html,
>>
>> no mention of ESRI
>>
>> Same on
>> http://www.hexagongeospatial.com/products/power-portfolio/erdas-imagine
>>
>>
>>
>> Just trying to decrease the emotional level of the debate with facts ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Spatialys - Geospatial professional services
>>
>> http://www.spatialys.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
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