[Qgis-developer] Re: [Qgis-user] OSGeo Membership for QGIS

[Tim Sutton]

Hi Jack

Radim has mentioned some possible 'downsides' in the preliminary
discussions we had on the PSC mailing list before Gary sent the
initial email in this thread out for wider comment. I think I can
summarise by saying that Radims main concern was that the OSGEO
becomes some kind of defacto portal for people trying to find free and
open source GIS related software, essentially precluding non member
projects for similar consideration. Of course this can be seen as an
advantage for the OSGEO members projects, but since open source
developers have a libertarian approach to life I cant help but agree
with Radim a little. Not enough for me to *not* want to join PSC
though because I think that lifting up some open source projects into
the public eye will inevitably bring other initially less visible
projects into focus too.

In fact for me the biggest 'con' I can think of is the time and effort
we will need to invest to oversee the incubation process and any
additional admin overhead being an OSGEO member may introduce. Since
QGIS is a 100% volunteer effort at the moment, any time spent on admin
generally reduces otherwise productive developer time. The counter
argument to this is of course is that if OSGEO lives up to our
expectations it should reduce admin overhead that we currently invest
in managing our project servers, removing spammer posts to the forums
etc etc

Other than that I really dont see any great cons in the road ahead -
though it would be interesting to get a retrospective opinion on the
matter from some projects that have already gone through the
process...

Best regards

Tim

On 1/28/07, Jack Varga <jvarga at boulder.net> wrote:
> Gary, Tim, et al;
>
> On the surface it seems hard to find a reason not to support a move to
> OSGeo.  Gary lists many Pros for joining, but no Cons.  In my attempt to
> remain objective, it would help to hear what some of the Cons might be
> (for both users and developers)?
>
> The fact that QGis relies heavily on the advanced analytical
> capabilities inherent in Grass and that Grass is already a (along with
> GDAl,  IMHO the two most critical) member(s) of OSGeo, it does seem a
> logical course of action.  That alone is without consideration for many
> of the additional benefits Tim describes.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jack Varga
>
> Gary Sherman wrote:
> > At present, there is no desktop GIS application like QGIS in the
> > OSGeo collection. GRASS is already part of OSGeo thus joining OSGeo
> > seems to be a natural step.
> >
> > OSGeo offers increased visibility, promotion at conferences, access
> > to legal advice, hosting of downloads and other project services, and
> > management of sponsorships. Promotion at major conferences includes
> > brochures and booth presence.
>
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>


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