MapServer Foundation thoughts and reactions

[Fischer, Brian]

I think by having two separate software packages with the same first
name is going to do nothing but confuse everyone that doesn't follow
this list on a daily basis.  And all of us will end up having to do more
explaining then needed to educate new users on why they are both called
MapServer.

I have to agree with Tom.  I say let MapServer stay MapServer and as a
foundation we request Autodesk to come up with their own unique name for
the code they just released as Open Source. 

If Autodesk really isn't in this to exploit the MapServer name, then it
shouldn't matter to them if they have to rename their project.  This
makes the most sense to me and I think it would be the least confusing
to new users.  The fact is that the two products do not share any of the
same source code (as of now) and have a very different architecture.  So
why anyone would want both of them to be called MapServer is confusing
to me.  The only thing they share right now is they are part of the
foundation and both are open source projects.

I am not trying to be critical of the names.  I am just trying to think
what makes the most logical sense for new users and us trying to explain
the different options to new users.

Brian Fischer
Houston Engineering, Inc.
Maple Grove, MN
(763) 493-4522

-----Original Message-----
From: UMN MapServer Users List [mailto:MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU] On
Behalf Of Kralidis,Tom [Burlington]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 12:54 PM
To: MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU
Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] MapServer Foundation thoughts and
reactions

> > I think the MTSC is
> > giving up the MapServer name to easy to Autodesk.  When I 
> think ahead 
> > about giving a presentation or trying to sell an "original" 
> MapServer 
> > solution to a potential client, I think it is going to be a 
> challenge 
> > and uphill battle trying to explain the difference in 
> software names 
> > and why I am using one over the other.  I also agree that 
> it makes the 
> > "original" MapServer sound like it may not work as an enterprise 
> > solution when anybody that has worked with MapServer knows 
> that is not 
> > the case.  Try explaining that to a client that has not followed 
> > MapServer for the past 5 years and knows little our nothing 
> about the 
> > software.
> 
> What can we do to alleviate this problem without telling the 
> MapServer Enterprise folks what they are "allowed" to call 
> their product (which we likely have no right to do).

Can we not just call MapServer, well, MapServer (I was going to say
'mapache' but that would be too representative of Apache)?  The
Enterprise, Pro, whatever uses MapServer can call itself whatever it
wants (i.e. ms4w, etc.).

..Tom