FW: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] MapServer Foundation - Open Letter

[Gary Watry]

Hi
I am new to Mapserver, my first site went live Monday. We went to Mapserver
because it was open source. I have worked with ArcIms and MapGuide. We used
Mapguide to replace ArcIMS at a major state agencies when I was there. When
I moved over to the university research center, we intentionally did not use
ArcIMS or MapGuide. I have worked with Autodesk vendors and DM in the past.
Let's face it, we just got in bed with the wolf. Autodesk will come in as a
vendor, claim to be your business partner, and will act like your boss.
Unless UMN and the Mapserver (Open Source) community stand up and together,
this should be the end of open source Mapserver. What Autodesk and its
vendors are very good at is taking procedures and code and putting patents
on them so that you as a user can not use it with out paying for it royally.
Pun intended.

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Gary L. Watry

GIS Coordinator
Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
FSU / COAPS
Johnson Building, RM 215
2035 East Paul Dirac Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2840
 
E-Mail: watry at coaps.fsu.edu