[postgis-users] FOSS GIS clients - thanks for all the replies, on and offline

[dnrg]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies, online and off.
Looks like I've got a bit more homework to do.

I will check out gvSIG, and have already checked out
OpenJump (and can confirm, on my system, that it can
easily render the 1G shapefile). And I will give QGIS
another try on a beefier Linux system. My laptop is
XP, and getting a bit long in the tooth resource-wise.

Paul, you wrote:
> You are thinking the developers are working for you,

> the user, but they aren't. They are working for
> themselves and their employers, and they have
> perfectly good reasons to keep working on what they
> want to work on. You, the freeloading user, are
> incidental to the process.

Nice try, no cigar. I think nothing of the sort. And
I'm a potential user of FOSS GIS, incidentally. Not a
proper user yet.

However, do all FOSS developers have an indifference
for the user? Or do some developers want to make a
difference beyond their own needs, and the direct
needs of employers? I imagine developer motivations
are more diverse and complex than you characterize
them. Could just be my imagination though. Or I'm too
dim to understand your point. I vote for the latter.
It's the safer bet.

For what it's worth, I'm not sure I buy the Sink or
Source dichotomy. It may be a convenient metaphor, but
seems unlikely to tell the whole story.

If anyone can recommend a good book on the sociology
of open source communities, I'm all eyes.

> We, the developers and employers, are well aware of
> the strategic implications of choosing to join, or
> not join, a particular community, probably to a far
> finer degree than you, and don't worry -- we are
> looking after our interests.

Let's hope so. Good luck and god speed in the New
Year. May everyone impel everyone else toward a higher
spatial bar. 

Spatial Regards,
  
Dana (the guy formerly and presently known as Dana,
unlike the Artist presently known as Prince, formerly
known as a symbol, formerly known as Prince, and,
initially, whatever his birth name was; but what's in
a name) 










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