epiphany about the idea of the Foundation

[Sears, Jeremy]

Hi List,
I must say that P Kishor's response is very reasonable. I do think we, the
Mapserver Community, will indeed be recieving the shaft here if Autodesk is
permitted to name their product Mapserver Enterprise. 

 "the bosses-in-pointy-hats will ask for the enterprise class product, even
if they don't know their arse from an enterprise."     ...    Exactly.

I will say up front that Im relatively new to the GIS world, and even newer
to the Open source movement. For me, and obviously for others, Mapserver
grants the opportunity to learn and (hopefully) master a highly useful bit
of software completely free of charge, and with the support of others who
are working towards similar goals. I understand that Mapserver has been
gaining popularity and is now being deployed in numerous high-visibility
situations. Given Mapserver's impressive track record I think that news of
it is obviously trickling down to "the bosses-in-pointy-hats". This is great
news for individual GIS folks like myself. Why? Because now when the pointy
hat boss hires me to get his organization's GIS data online he knows that
he'll pay for nothing more than my salary, no yearly licensing, no dual
processor extra fees etc. This is great for me and the pointy hat.
  I derive a satisfying sense of freedom from working on Mapserver projects
and also on other OS based software because the value of my work, and it's
utility in years to come will not depend on the precondition that my
employing organization is dumping vast amounts of money into a particular
software company's pocket. I prefer to think of myself, and other in similar
situations, as being akin to mechanics who build/repair machinery rather
than indentured servants who are tethered to a license. I cant help but feel
that if AutoDesk sticks it's finger into the pie, this freedom will be
jeopardized, I will again have to don a tether and the capabilities that I
can offer an organization will be determined not so much by my skill but by
the size of their bank accounts. 

By the sounds of it, AutoDesk is pushing ahead with 'Mapserver Enterprise' I
am left here with Mapserver child's edition. What are the chances of keeping
the name of the software I work with as "Mapserver"? Has this decision been
written in stone? What can I do, besides posting to this list, to prevent
Autocad from horning in on Mapserver's name? 


Best Regards
Jeremy