MapServer Sponsorship

[Steve Lime]

I am generally very supportive of the idea of sponsorship. I think the 5.0 release really 
brings a host of new functionality to the software and that users and potential
sponsors will be very excited.  So it becomes an excellent time to capitalize on the 
momentum of a new release.

My preference would be to fund folks that have already invested themselves heavily
in the project. I'm not referring to myself but rather to others that make a living doing
this stuff. I think it is extremely important to support companies like MapGears, DMSG and
the other consultants contributing to MapServer.  The more successful they are the better 
off MapServer is in the long run.

I would not be opposed to the modestly paid maintainer approach either if the investment
above isn't feasible or if there are extra dollars. I think the project would benefit big time
with some full time or nearly full time staff. Look at the pace of change in the last 6 weeks
with 5.0. It would be fantastic to be able to maintain that energy. Paying someone is the
best way to make sure that happens.

Steve 

>>> On 8/29/2007 at 11:04 AM, in message <46D598F9.3070309 at pobox.com>, Frank
Warmerdam <warmerdam at POBOX.COM> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> Last year in Lausanne (and to some extent before that) we discussed the
> possibility of instituting a sponsorship program for MapServer.  There
> were some mixed feelings on the matter last summer and we shelved the
> issue for a while to see how it works out for GDAL.
> 
> I'd like to re-raise the issue with an eye towards launching such a program
> at FOSS4G - a good opporutunity to hit up some potential sponsors.
> 
> The rough idea is that the project would seek sponsors for the project.  The
> funds collected would be administered by OSGeo under it's project 
> sponsorship
> program.  The funds (less a 25% portion kept for general OSGeo use) would be
> used as directed by the MapServer PSC.  It could be to fund maintenance, new
> development, t-shirts, documentation, or whatever though I would suggest we
> focus on using it for maintenance and documentation.
> 
> The OSGeo project sponsorship program is described at:
> 
>    http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Project_Sponsorship 
> 
> GDAL has put into place such a sponsorship program and collected (gross)
> $21500 in sponsorship which has been used to fund Mateusz Loskot as a part
> time maintainer.  The "sponsorship advertisement page" for GDAL looks like
> this:
> 
>    http://www.gdal.org/sponsorship.html 
> 
> The GDAL project also passed an RFC describing how the paid maintenance
> position would operate, available at:
> 
>    http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc9_maintainer 
> 
> My suggestion is that we take a roughly similar course for MapServer, though
> the kinds of work we fund and how we administer it may differ somewhat.  I
> think one approach is like that of GDAL where a relatively inexpensive but
> passionate developer works fixing bugs with some guidance from someone
> (perhaps Steve).  Another approach would be contract for blocks of 
> maintenance
> with some degree of self direction from experienced developers/organizations
> like MapGears, DMSG, Steve, Howard, etc.
> 
> My ultimate dream when we launched OSGeo is that a program like this might
> be enough to fund a project lead (ie. Steve) or senior developer to work
> full time on the project but of course that takes quite a bit of funding.
> So that might be a direction we aim, but is likely impractical for some
> time.
> 
> If we are to launch such a program, there will need to be some effort to
> line up sponsors.  I've done this single handed for GDAL but hopefully a
> few of us could follow up with contacts for MapServer.  I can think of a
> couple of my clients that would be likely candidates.
> 
> So, are folks interested?  Some pro's and con's?  Thoughts on how to use
> sponsorship money effectively without screwing up our community dynamics?
> 
> Best regards,