[Live-demo] Retiring Geopublisher and AtalasStyler?

[Angelos Tzotsos]

On 12/01/2012 05:27 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> On 27/11/12 06:17, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>> On 26/11/2012 7:54 PM, Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas wrote:
>>> On 24 November 2012 06:52, Cameron Shorter 
>>> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Stefan,
>>>> I see from your blog  that "Geopublisher and AtlasSytler 
>>>> development has
>>>> ceased" [1].
>>>>
>>>> As I have previously retired an Open Source project that I started
>>>> (mapbuilder) [2], I appreciate that it can be a difficult decision 
>>>> to make,
>>>> and I suspect you will be feeling a sense of loss. So my heart goes 
>>>> out to
>>>> you.
>>>>
>>>> However, I suggest that you will likely find with one door closing, 
>>>> another
>>>> door will open. For me, it opened up time for me to get involved the
>>>> OSGeo-Live project.
>>>>
>>>> On a practical matter, I'd like to hear your thoughts on including
>>>> Geopublisher and AtlasStyler on OSGeo-Live. My feeling is that 
>>>> OSGeo-Live
>>>> should only be promoting projects with an active community behind 
>>>> it. As
>>>> such, we probably should take the projects off OSGeo-Live in the next
>>>> release.
>>>> Comments?
>>>>
>>>> [1] http://en.geopublishing.org/GoodBye
>>>> [2]
>>>> http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com.au/2008/07/end-of-life-for-community-mapbuilder-we_29.html 
>>>>
>>>>
>>> On the other hand, one can see those projects as "orphans" willing to
>>> have new promoters.
>>>
>>> Having them at the Live DVD would help to spread the word about those
>>> projects that still make sense and need new blood (and for me Atlas
>>> Styler at least makes a lot of sense).
>>>
>>> My 2cts from a (sad) user of Atlas Styler.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Jorge, I understand your point in that it would be nice to find new 
>> communities and sponsors for Geopublisher and AtlasStyler through our 
>> maketing pipeline. However, I don't think OSGeo-Live is the right forum.
>>
>> OSGeo-Live's target market is new users asking the question "What 
>> robust and stable application would you recommend to do XXX?"
>> We provide recommendations of the best projects, which have the 
>> criteria of:
>> * best of breed
>> * stable
>> * with an active community behind it. This community will answer 
>> newbie questions and apply bug fixes as required. (This is one of our 
>> criteria for joining OSGeo-Live in the first place)
>>
>> I note that having a project on OSGeo-Live which is lacking in one 
>> area will tarnish a user's experience and reflect badly on all the 
>> other OSGeo-Live applications. We are working very hard to debunk the 
>> myth that "Open Source shouldn't be used for production systems 
>> because it is unsupported".
>>
>
> We discussed whether we should retire Geopublisher and AtlasStyler at 
> our weekly meeting yesterday, and agreed that the projects should be 
> retired if they don't have an active community behind them anymore.
>
> However, we would like to recognise the past contributions these 
> projects have provided to OSGeo-Live in the past. We will probably do 
> this by adding another heading to our Contents page listing retired 
> projects.
>
> I'd also like to personally thank Stefan for his dedication to his 
> both his projects as well as the OSGeo-Live project. It has been a 
> pleasure working with you and I do hope I have the opportunity to work 
> with you again on a future endeavour you may be involved in.
>

Another idea would be to keep the installation scripts in place (or in a 
special folder) so that users can manually install those applications in 
the VM if they need them.

Best,
Angelos

-- 
Angelos Tzotsos
Remote Sensing Laboratory
National Technical University of Athens
http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos