Mapserver - Autodesk: hostile takeover, merger of equals or what?

[Paul Spencer]

Andre, apologies on the disclaimer, no harm done but you might want  
to find out where that came from (probably your company email?)

Paul

On 6-Dec-05, at 5:44 PM, Andre Karp wrote:

> Thanks for the replies and further contributions, here some  
> thoughts and
> remarks:
>
> Steve Lime <steve.lime at DNR.STATE.MN.US> wrote:
>> There is no intention to merge codebases, not that it is even  
>> possible.
>> There are possiblities to share ideas > and even pieces of code  
>> though. I
>> personally plan to continue to focus exclusively on MapServer for  
>> the  >
>> freseable future.
>
> This is great, maybe I was too stupid, but the thought of a merge  
> of code
> and, subsequently the disappearing of the original Mapserver really  
> worried
> me, and it still does worry me.
>
> Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at DMSOLUTIONS.CA>  wrote:
>
>> I don't think anyone suggested that you or anyone should switch,  
>> but it
>> would be wise to give it a try before assuming that it's no good.
>
> Maybe its my genetic german pessimism, sorry for that. I cannot,  
> like e.g.
> Paul Ramsey, evaluate the code contributed by Autodesk, since I do  
> not have
> any knowledge of that. But I do have some years of professional  
> experience
> working with GIS software, and from that point of view there is  
> nothing to
> make me think: "Oh great, the superior Autodesk code is made  
> available to
> the open source community.." Since the product "MapGuide" was not
> competetive, well, the code cannot be a great gift to the  
> community, can it?
>
> However, I did not intend to refuse any kind of cooperation, but ,  
> as I
> already said, I got the impression of mapserver being usurped by  
> Autodesk.
> This impresssion was also driven by media reporting things like  
> "Autodesk
> provides web mapping software to the open source community" .  
> (german press
> release from Autodesk:
> http://www.autodesk.de/adsk/servlet/item? 
> siteID=403786&id=6189327&linkID=4986961)
> Thanks you so much, Autodesk, but
> WHO is contributing WHAT to WHOM? It's just the other way round,  
> isn't it?
>
>
> Paul Spencer <pspencer at DMSOLUTIONS.CA> wrote
>
>> some comments inline for those that care to read a rebuttal.  In
>> general, most of the issues that you raise have been discussed
>> extensively on both the mapserver-users and mapserver foundation
>> discuss lists, and on IRC.  You will find folks coming down on both
>> sides, but I think the general sentiment expressed in both these
>> emails is based on some mis-understandings of the original  
>> announcement
>
> I tried to work through the discussion on the mapserver list (which  
> in my
> opinion is the place where this topic should be discussed) and  
> probably I
> missed some things (e.g. the re-re-naming announcement, it was soooo
> small!).
>
>> I would really suggest that you try it out before making the
>> assumption that it is like any other software experience you have
>> had.  You may find that you are surprised.  Or not ;)
>
> Well, maybe I should try it indeed, but to refer to ones experience is
> something quite natural, isn't it? And, to mention this, especially  
> if this
> experience derives from working with some of the widespread  
> commercial GIS
> software (including Autodesk MapGuide), which is not really a funny  
> thing.
>
>> It is interesting to be discussing open source software with the
>> following disclaimer in your email ... that's a pretty closed license
>> on your comments.  Wow ... am I even allowed to quote them or respond
>> to them?
>
> Paul, this disclaimer was not part of my original posting, don't  
> know how it
> got there, so no need to be sarcastic
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> Best regard,
> Andre Karp
>

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|Paul Spencer                           pspencer at dmsolutions.ca   |
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|Applications & Software Development                              |
|DM Solutions Group Inc                 http://www.dmsolutions.ca/|
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