[GRASS-user] GIS software popularity ranking: http://gisgeography.com/mapping-out-gis-software-landscape

[Blumentrath, Stefan]

Hei Rich,

Agreed that documenting and showcasing capabilities of GRASS is most convincing for possible new users.

And of course I would not comment on every blog out there that claims to "compare" or "review" different GIS.
Yet, http://gisgeography.com.w3snoop.com/ estimates that gisgeography.com has almost 22k individual visitors per day and > 7Mio per year. So I assume what is written there has some impact.

Maybe I just have to admit that I am a bit thin-skinned here to react on that kind of stuff... Yet, when you are not your own boss, but work in a (probably ESRI oriented) company, you would know that exactly this blind repetition of prejudices is what makes you struggle to build up a lively and well supported (in terms of all sorts of support your employer can offer) user group of Free and Open Source Software.
If you are not answering back in such settings, uninvolved or uninformed colleagues (esp. those in leading positions) will tend to believe they are really paying all the money for "quality" which thus gives a good return on investments.
Writing things like "clunky GUI", "cartographic nightmare"... can repel not only migrators, but also those starting with GIS from scratch...

Cheers
Stefan


-----Original Message-----
From: grass-user [mailto:grass-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Rich Shepard
Sent: 27. september 2016 20:16
To: grass-user at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [GRASS-user] GIS software popularity ranking: http://gisgeography.com/mapping-out-gis-software-landscape

On Tue, 27 Sep 2016, Thomas Adams wrote:

> The only problem (not for us per se) is wider acceptance of GRASS GIS 
> based on inherent biases derived from a lack of familiarity with GRASS 
> and blind disregard for it. At worst, GRASS' capabilities are misrepresented.
> GRASS, QGIS, SAGA GIS, etc. represent threats to ESRI -- they are not 
> above spreading falsehoods... A larger user base enriches open source 
> projects -- R serves as a great example...

Tom,

   I concur completely. Think back to 1981-1989 when no one was fired for specifying IBM for PC hardware despite Epson, Compaq, Leading Edge, etc.
being technically better and _much_ less expensive.

   Because ESRI, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, etc. see F/OSS as a threat they do throw around their weight to maintain market share. Part of the way they do this is by purchasing advertising space in general market publications as well as specialty publications for their particular software. Therefore, those publications will not promote F/OSS software since there's no revenue from this source and they are, after all, in business to make money.

   Perhaps the best way of advocating for GRASS, R, etc. is a two-pronged approach. The prong of least resistance is to demonstrate the capabilities of F/OSS software to provide necessary business solutions by using this software rather than proprietary versions. I've run my environmental consultancy since 1997 using only linux and F/OSS applications (most frequently LaTeX, R, GRASS, and PostgreSQL/SQLite.

   The second prong is more difficult: get users who regularly use GRASS, R, LibreOffice, and other F/OSS applications to defenestrate and move to linux.
Given the plethora of various Ubuntu flavors most who make the move find it painless and learn the joy of free and better quality software at the OS level, too.

Rich
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