Poll: MapServer and Autodesk

[Mike Davis]

 > I'm on record for thinking that co-branding is a good thing for
> MapServer but I realize I'm in the minority.  I've never been able to
> eloquently express why I think it is a good thing ... I guess I just
> think it is.

While I seem to fall on the other side on this one, I feel that
co-branding is a great thing as well.  By creating a foundation that
many open source mapping projects can live under we are saying "Hey,
these projects may be different as night & day, but the developers are
share to a certain set of ideals and are committed to work together to
forward common goals".  I think that concept is bigger than any one
project (Mapserver included), and I think it deserves a different
brand (or name) to reflect that.

In the long term, it is my hope that many projects, new and existing,
might find their way to the foundation.

> In the end, I don't really care that much as I now have two excellent
> platforms for delivering solutions to my clients, two platforms that
> share quite a bit of underlying technology but that approach the web
> mapping problem from two different directions.  Being able to say
> "MapServer" to my clients regardless of what I was actually going to
> do would, I feel, make my life easier ... but not sufficiently to get
> in a knot over it :)

I agree.  Honestly when I say "Mapserver" to my clients/bosses/etc...
all they hear is "Not ESRI".  It is a scary world for them, because
they don't understand that a support structure can exist even though a
rep isn't knocking on your door and half-a-dozen copies of a
newsletter aren't arriving every month.

The creation of an umbrella foundation is a good step to solidifying
the idea that a support network does exist.  If there is a real entity
I can point people to with a logo, and a slogan, and a newsletter, and
multiple mature products/projects, they will feel much more
comfortable.

-Mike