[GRASSLIST:9014] Re: ArcView vs GRASS

[Trevor Wiens]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 19:30:00 +0100
Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it> wrote:

> Hi all.
> During a national conference on Open Source software 
> (http://www.salpa.pisa.it/), one of the speakers (ESRI businnes partner, 
> curiously enough) has showed a comparison, which I found misleading, between 
> ArcView and GRASS. Does anybody have hard data, reference material, or 
> experience to share on this?

I think Rich Shepard's little table is a pretty good summary. I think another factor
that must be included when ERSI drones start pumping out their message is that for ArcView to have
capabilities similar to GRASS, many very expensive add-on modules must be purchased. 

The common reply to this is that ArcView runs better under Windows and is easier to use, so 
it is worth it to buy a license and have no control over your software. To this, I would suggest 
that the appropriate counter is that if users want Windows integration and ease of use, they 
should buy Manifold GIS, for 1/10 the cost of ArcView and is considerably more powerful than 
the base ArcView product.

Historically ESRI gained market dominance primarily through US government contracts, not because they had a quality product. Now they have managed to become deeply entwined in the University system (in the USA and Canada) so people coming out of school don't know anything else. The end result is that you have ignorant people making decisions about what to buy and use. A software vendor couldn't ask for anything more. I think their presence at a supposed FOSS GIS conference is a clear indication that ESRI has seen the affect GNU/Linux has had on Microsoft and they are afraid of GRASS, QGIS, etc.

I'm not sure of the value of countering individuals like this; its like arguing with missionaries at your door, although possibly entertaining, it is a waste of time. I did find an interesting link however from somebody rethinking feature comparisons between different GIS software packages. I'm not sure I entirely agree, but it is an interesting idea.   

http://geovisualisation.com/WordPress/?p=150

Unfortunately the author doesn't complete the comparison graphs, but the method has merit.

T
-- 
Trevor Wiens 
twiens at interbaun.com

The significant problems that we face cannot be solved at the same 
level of thinking we were at when we created them. 
(Albert Einstein)