"Geospatial Foundation" Meeting

[Puneet Kishor]

On Jan 13, 2006, at 11:32 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote:

> Dear Community Members,
>
> In order to help move along the process of starting an "open source 
> geospatial foundation" there will be a face-to-face meeting in 
> Chicago, Westin O'Hare, on February 4, 2006, hosted by Autodesk. In 
> conceiving of this meeting, we have tried (and will continue to try) 
> to follow these principles:
>
> - Inclusion. Members from a number of different open source projects 
> have been invited (see the list so far below) and Autodesk has offered 
> to pay the travel costs of some of these invitees in order to ensure 
> they can attend if they cannot afford it otherwise. Anyone else is 
> also welcome to attend physically or virtually (see below).

Thanks to everyone for making this possible. There is a potential 
problem with the above (note: I have said "potential," hence, it is 
entirely possible that there may be no problem at all).

The meeting is hosted by Autodesk, and Autodesk will also pay for some 
of the attendees to attend the meeting. Most of the negative reaction 
to the initial announcement stemmed from a feeling of a free/open 
source project and its name and goodwill being usurped by a for-profit, 
closed source, publicly held corporation. Most everyone welcomed 
Autodesk, but most everyone did not want to have the MapServer 
Enterprise name applied to their product.

I hope Autodesk's financial underwriting of the above event will not 
create a conflict of interest of any sort. Would it be worthwhile 
publicly announcing the event so other private corporations have an 
equal opportunity to attend/sponsor/represent at the event?

Personally, I am happy that the meeting is at a place that I can 
attend. Well, it is 150 miles from here, but I can drive there on my 
own steam without feeling obligated to anyone. But, it would have been 
nicer to have the meeting at a "neutral" location and perhaps even at a 
neutral event. For example, the meeting could be held at UMN, or even 
at a "rented" meeting room at O'Hare -- I would be happy to chip in 
toward the cost from my pocket if the expense is reasonable.

In any case, I believe this is an important and concrete step forward, 
and I welcome and support it. As long as we come to the meeting with an 
open and constructive mind, there shouldn't be any issue. Thanks again, 
to all those who made it possible (and that includes Autodesk).

--
Puneet Kishor