[OSGeo-Discuss] Certification commitee

[Helton Uchoa]

Hi Dave,

The key word is "complementation". I understand (point of view) the FOSS 
GIS market like this:
- OSGeo makes a certification as a indepedent organization;
- Companies make the training program to prepare users for OSGeo 
certification tests.
So, certification can helps others companies to make business.

The Frank's suggestion to make a "farm out" certification under 
supervision of OSGeo can possibility a certification more widely with 
low cost.

I will put ideas in the wiki and start a work planning.

[]s

Uchoa

Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca wrote:
>
>> Another consideration on this is that certification is often a value-add
>> that companies provide around open source technologies, so there is
>> potential for this to cause competition between OSGEO and the companies
>> that are selling services and products around the technologies.
>
>> The open source geospatial industry has not yet begun to offer this kind
>> of service, but it may come quickly given the rapid maturation that is
>> currently happenning.
>
>
>
> Dave,
>
> I'm not sure I have seen many certification efforts where a third party
> company does all the certification stuff.  I guess I am most familiar
> with certifications where a company certifies people on their own 
> technology
> (like Microsoft and MSCE).
>
> Are you concerned about a scenario where a companies wishes to promote
> a certification on a product (say GRASS for example) that it does the
> testing and certification for?  And that OSGeo might be competing with
> that company if it also tried to provide a certification for GRASS?
>
> While I suppose this is possible, it seems to me that a certification
> would (or could) have more credibility if coming from a relatively 
> neutral
> organizations, like OSGeo, that doesn't pursue the certification from a
> profit motive.  In any event, if we were to do so, I think the effort 
> would
> have to be in cooperation with the PSC of the affected projects.
>
> On a number of fronts I too am concerned about OSGeo possibly 
> competing with
> it's own members.  But this hadn't occured to me as one that might be an
> issue.
>
> > I'm not saying that this shouldn't happen -- just that it should be 
> done
> > with sensitivity to the issue. I'd be hopeful that a certification 
> process
> > could be done in a way that is complementary to services offerred by
> > companies around open source.
>
> Well, I certainly think if we pursued certification it should be because:
>  o It helps services companies convince clients of their professionalism.
>  o Gives user organizations a way of identifying competent integrators.
>
> That is, my objective would be to grow the size and effectiveness of the
> open source geospatial services sector.
>
> As Uchoa noted, this could be quite important in government procurement
> situations in Brazil and elsewhere.
>
> One thing I was wondering was whether it would make sense for OSGeo to
> "farm out" the certification process to a private company to administer
> under the supervision of the project PSC(s) and an OSGeo certification
> committee.  There is some risk in apparent favoritism in selecting one
> company to do such a job, but farming it out in this manner might be
> necessary to getting things off the ground in a serious and professional
> way.
>
> Best regards,


-- 
Helton UCHOA :: uchoa@{opengeo.com.br;geolivre.org.br;open3dgis.org}
Consultant in Free Software for Geomatics - 55 21 8272-4899
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