[Mapserver-users] SDE raster support?

[Paul Ramsey]

Hi Oliver,
   Don't make the mistake of assuming that open source projects 
prioritize features the way proprietary companies do.  SDE raster 
support is on the list because it is recognized as being probably a 
useful features.
   That being said, features get added to mapserver as the result of 
developers doing work.  There are two kinds of developers, paid 
developers and unpaid (for mapserver work) developers.
   The unpaid developers work on two kinds of features: the ones they 
find useful for their day jobs, and the ones they find personally 
amusing.
   The paid developers work on one kind of feature: the kind they get 
paid to work on.
   If a feature is not getting completed quickly, or at all, it is 
because none of the unpaid developers finds the feature useful or 
interesting, and none of the paid developers is getting paid to add it 
(which is a shorthand way of saying that none of the paid developer's 
clients finds the feature useful or interesting).
   So, the obvious way to get a feature added is to either be an unpaid 
developer yourself, and add it, or hire a paid developer and get them 
to add it for you! :)  Nobody will ever say a feature will "never" be 
added, because the process of addition is the organic one described 
above.  Conversely, nobody will promise a date or version in which a 
feature *will* be added, unless there is a client paying for the 
feature to be added by that date/version.
   I hope this clarifies, rather than muddies,
Paul

On Tuesday, October 28, 2003, at 05:12 AM, Oliver Wesp wrote:

> are there any upcoming plans for adding sde raster support? Or is 
> there any work going on somewhere? I found a post from november 2002 
> where somebody said something about a todo-list with sde raster 
> support on it. I would be very glad to know something about this even 
> if the answer is: no, this will never be implemented.

      Paul Ramsey
      Refractions Research
      Email: pramsey at refractions.net
      Phone: (250) 885-0632