[OSGeo-Discuss] Autodesk recognition

[Howard Butler]

At 9:11 PM -0700 6/20/06, Tyler Mitchell wrote:
>Ha, Gary was 5 minutes ahead of me :)
>
>
>On 20-Jun-06, at 9:05 PM, Gary Lang wrote:
>
>>Well, that's one way to think about it.
>>
>>Another way is to realize that Autodesk was a Diamond Sponsor of Where
>>2.0 and that we specifically asked that our entire presence and internal
>>investment be donated to and focused on OSGeo, rather than on ourselves
>>and our products, which is what our competitors did.
>>
>>So to answer Ned's question, we deliberately turned the entire Autodesk
>>marketing machine towards OSGeo, and will continue to do so until the
>>community says it no longer wants or needs the assistance.
>>
>>OSGeo had the most consistently crowded booth at the show. The booth
>>cost a lot of money, as did the shirts we all wore, the press work
>>arranged by the ADSK marketing team, etc. I believe it was money well
>>spent. The community has said it appreciates it, and that's a good
>>feeling.
>>
>>Gary

I agree completely.  In addition, I would posit that it was ADSK's 
flexibility, willingness to expand the scope, and ponying up in terms 
of manpower and resources that punctuated the formation of OSGeo.  We 
wouldn't be where we are now without their involvement.  We've come a 
long ways (and have a long ways yet to go) and a lot has changed 
since my weblog post about those early days.  I don't think that post 
has much context for OSGeo other than those events getting us to the 
Feb 4th meeting and OSGeo's formation.  After that, it's all just 
water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.

I also think OSGeo might be a bit too young to be worry about writing 
its autiobiography quite yet ;)

Howard