[GRASSLIST:9833] Re: [pramsey refractions.net: [MSF-Discuss] "Geospatial Foundation" Meeting]

[Florian Kindl]

I support the idea to build a common foundation for the development  
and promotion of open source GIS.
This will certainly add more weight to the public appearance of our  
projects. Hopefully it also fertilizes the ground for further  
interoperability between the various projects.
I am also glad to hear that you, Markus, find the time to represent  
GRASS GIS at the meeting.

I wasn't quite up-to-date with the entanglement of Autodesk and open  
source - here's how they summarize it themselves:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=6153839

And from the linked pdf http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/ 
MapServer_Enterprise_Autodesk_Customer_FAQ0.pdf:
[quote]
1.7  What’s in this for Autodesk?  What’s the business model?
=============================================================
Our customers demand more frequent software releases, faster support  
for new standards,
faster access to new data sources, and lower cost of ownership for  
their web mapping
solutions.
By better addressing needs of these customers and the broader  
geospatial community, and
helping the overall mapping industry grow, Autodesk hopes to increase  
demand for our other
products used to create and manage spatial information.
Autodesk also plans to offer a commercial version of the MapServer  
Enterprise open source
product with additional data connectivity options, along with a  
commercial version of
Autodesk® MapServer Studio.  Many customers who are attracted to the  
advantages of the
open MapServer Enterprise software but prefer a commercial support  
model and related
services, will choose the commercial version.

1.8  How does Autodesk’s participation benefit the open source web  
mapping community?
======================================================================== 
=============
Autodesk’s participation strengthens the presence, credibility, and  
long term viability of the
existing open source web mapping community by adding technical  
expertise, sponsorship and
business resources to the existing effort. Organizations that may  
have been reluctant to
implement solutions based on open source technology may now be more  
likely to use them.

Autodesk will cooperate with other Foundation participants to ensure  
the future growth and
success of the open source web mapping community in response to the  
upcoming
opportunities in the web mapping arena.  Autodesk’s participation may  
also attract additional
partners and contributors to the effort.
[/quote]

Just to add a little background information for those who didn't  
follow the process closely and wondered why Autodesk's being so  
generous...
-flo.