[Mapserver-users] Open Source economy 101 ;) (was: Fastest D ata Format)

Fri Jan 3 10:34:33 PST 2003

Heh, time for me to interject :)

You both make very valid points, but they are not mutually exclusive.

First, on the issue of paying or not, and who pays for what, I'd have to
agree with Daniel on the fact that if a feature is so important to someone,
then they can pay for it (We payed for the HTML Legend :), it's all a matter
of how much that feature is worth to you.  BUT, I would also say that if
there are several groups looking for a specific feature, nothing is
preventing them from putting their financial resources together in order to
hire a third party to implement a specific feature in a hurry.  If GAIA, DM,
AND NRCan were interested in DB Connection pooling, all could share in the
cost. Heck, even competitors could get together to pay for a feature, funny
how that works huh ? :) (Oh and NO, we have no need for that feature, sorry
:) Also, an expense for a feature enhancement can (should?) be concidered as
an investement, since such feature might allow for new business
opportunities and new clients ... I'm sure someone could make a business
case around this concept.

>From our stand point, having been on the paying end of things, I think of it
as "the least we could do" ... As we take advantage of free software for
years on end, and take advantage of the generosity of others, it seems only
fair we return the favor :)

As for the voting system, it's allready kind of in place.  Bugzilla supports
voting for bug fixes and new enhancements ... Maybe this feature could be
turned on and promoted as a way (THE way?) for the community to ask for new
features/enhancements or even bug fixes that are deamed important by some.

And yes, it is unfortunate in some ways that MapServer isn't GPL, because
I'm sure there are LOTS of enhancements to MapServer that exist out there
that were never returned to the community, which is unfortunate. We often
hear talk about CFX's for MapServer, or a COM implementation ... I know of
at least one instance of this occuring. Not to mention this also creates
duplication of effort in many cases I'm sure.

My .02$
J.F.

-----Original Message-----
From: GAIA [mailto:mapserver at peligroso.gaiaenv.com]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 1:10 PM
To: Mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
Subject: Re: [Mapserver-users] Open Source economy 101 ;) (was: Fastest
Data Format)

Hmmm...I don't necessarily agree with all your points here Daniel, but you
do raise some valid ones.  My comments are general as well, and are not
directed at anyone, nor are they intended to be negative (i.e., I hate
flaming!).

There is a dichotomy faced by Open Source developers that many of us
struggle with:  providing resources in an open environment and earning a
living!  We walk that fine line and try to maintain a balance, both
ethically/philosophically and financially.  I believe we need to sponsor an
environment that is truly open in that users are not afraid to ask, or even
push for, new features.  In the same token, we need to ensure developers are
receiving adequate remuneration--whatever that may entail.  Again, we walk
the fine line in my mind.  Enough philosophy for me!  ;)

We would be happy to offer our assistance, but that does not involve C
programming (about the only language we don't use here).  It could involve $
to developers if our clients inject some $ into the process or could involve
other resources (e.g., test environments, dev environments, etc.).  Many of
us are small consulting shops in the same situation as the developers.  Our
shop may not spend the time and $ developing the back end of MapServer, but
we sure have invested a phenomenal amount of time and $ on the front end and
in linking our in-house GIS.  We are stongly tied to MapServer and its
purpose (we were the first Linux build of MapServer when using the app still
required permission from UMN).

I will try to chase some $ for the SDE feature development as I see it is
very important.  If we are to promote the 'fees for service' approach for
atypical MapServer feature development, then perhaps there should be some
resources to better expose those development individuals and firms.  

Here is a suggestion I would like to pose.  Track new feature requests on
the website (we do this for our products) and support 'voting' for the
features.  Have the chief developer (i.e., Steve.. apologies for branding
you Steve ;) set a threshold  to specify what should receive attention and
get rolled into the mainstream dev.,  and its priority level.  In my mind,
this would be in the spirit of Open Source in the sense that it would meet
the requests of the populous first (not just the ones with $), and in order
of priority.  (BTW, I am not suggesting this occurs now).  Obscure, but
nonetheless important features could be directed to the development gurus
for hire.  I don't know if this seems reasonable, but it may offer a
mechanism to control development requests and ensure the dev crew is more
visible in order to support them financially.  If anyone needed a feature
ASAP, then the dev crew could be contracted to implement the solution
quickly (typically, if our clients a!
re in a rush, they are more willing to spend $ to expedite the process).  I
still feel, as most will agree, that in the spirit of Open Source, all
development, whether contracted or not ought to be rolled back into the main
development pool.  Any thoughts on this 'Resource Centre' for lack of better
words?  

Again, thanks to the folks behind the scenes creating the engines many of us
use daily. 

Cheers,
GAIA
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