[Industry] Some thoughts, based on the FOSS4G-E discussion

[Jachym Cepicky]

Thanks you Peter for the summary and for carrying this topic further

Jachym

Send from cellphone
On Jul 19, 2014 11:21 AM, "Peter Baumann" <baumann at rasdaman.com> wrote:

> Hi activists,industry at lists.osgeo.org
>
> background: At the FOSS4G-Europe last week we had a 2h discussion on "FOSS
> & business". Key OSGeo representatives like Jeff McKenna and Jachym Cepicky
> joined in and promised to carry discussion into OSGeo. One outcome is this
> mailing list.
>
> I'd like to take the opportunity of summarizing a few thoughts I find key.
>
> - why care?
> Because a large part of the OSGeo community is making money with FOSS in
> one or the other way. Frankly, they need to survive from the money they
> make. OSGeo should enable, not kill business opportunities.
>
> - OSGeo role.
> We discussed intensively how OSGeo could promote FOSS-based business. Some
> agreed that the right level of comrpehensiveness should be: branding and
> supporting "free & open source software" as a concept ready & mature for
> business. This message is simple and agreeable enough that OSGeo could act
> on this indeed.
>
> - no more cannibals!
> More than once I have seen discussions ending up in cannibalizing
> ourselves by condemning business completely (in particular: dual license
> models), rather than being flexible (something essential for any small
> business, at least) and supporting creative business models that help the
> FOSS mission overall. There is a continuum of different business models
> inbetween the extremes of totally FOSS and totally proprietary.
>
> - OSGeo project branding.
> While I understand the good will  behind selecting "good" FOSS projects
> (ie, their software) as a buyer's guide, I again see the danger that we
> cannibalize ourselves: the flipside of the message is that all
> non-OSGeo-branded FOSS projects are not mature, not to be recommended.
> Does/can/should OSGeo want to take on this responsibility? (disclaimer: I'm
> saying this in a situation where rasdaman, after several years of effort,
> is now close to finalizing incubation, so if branding would be abolished
> part of our effort would be in vain.)
>
> Altogether, OSGeo IMHO can support businesses by placing a clear message
> "FOSS is good for customers because it fulfills critical needs" (catchy
> phrasing to be found).
>
> So much for my impressions - thanks, dear reader, for bearing with me!
>
> cheers,
> Peter
>
>
> --
> Dr. Peter Baumann
>  - Executive Director, rasdaman GmbH Bremen (HRB 26793)
>    www.rasdaman.com, mail: baumann at rasdaman.com
>    tel: 0800-rasdaman, fax: 0800-rasdafax, mobile: +49-173-5837882
>  - Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen
>    www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann
>    mail: p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
>    tel: +49-421-200-3178, fax: +49-421-200-493178
> "A brilliant idea is a job halfdone."
>
> _______________________________________________
> Industry mailing list
> Industry at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/industry
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/industry/attachments/20140719/a8b3c204/attachment.html>