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

[Andre Karp]

Paul,

not really important and completly of the topic, sorry for that, but: no,
the disclaimer isn't from our company mail, as you can see when you open my
original posting on the list (the first one on this topic). The disclaimer
was added during the first response.

Best regards
Andre

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Spencer" <pspencer at dmsolutions.ca>
To: "Andre Karp" <karp at MSP-DORTMUND.DE>
Cc: <MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Mapserver - Autodesk: hostile takeover,
merger of equals or what?


> 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   |
> +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
> |Applications & Software Development                              |
> |DM Solutions Group Inc                 http://www.dmsolutions.ca/|
> +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
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