[Qgis-psc] QGIS for Mac OS packaging and infrastructure

[Richard Duivenvoorde]

On 26/03/2019 16.28, Saber Razmjooei wrote:
> Hi Alessandro,
> 
> We have some altruistic motives :)
> 
> Seriously though, from business point of view, it is not something we
> want to pursue. We have an obligation to keep the current packages going
> until October this year. After that, if nothing is decided, we will plan
> to shut down the whole thing. All the noise is to make sure, the effort
> is not lost!
> 
> I can understand if QGIS does not want to handle macOS. But, as a the
> application is becoming more and more popular, the "expectation" is to
> have the packages working on all major platforms. More users, bigger
> community, more bug reports, more funded feature requests, more
> sponsorship...better brand/name. Not all of those fit with one single
> QGIS core organisation.

Are we talking about starting QGIS Inc. here :-)

20K (als about 20% percentage of project year income) for a commercial
OS installer is pretty expensive. Not sure how many Mac downloads we
have, but if a 'commercial' crowd source campaign did not help, if no
commercial supplier for this commercial OS is willing to step in, why
should a non-commercial project then bleed for it? I just don't agree
that we have to offer all platforms installers if these only can survive
if we spend $$$ cash to it.

Please spend that 20K on fixing bugs, and let the 'MacOS' community step
in to create an easier package if the KingChaos one is not 'good
enough'. I think it is not fair to spend that much of money on one
installer when others get/ask nothing for their work creating the same
kind of installers.

And IF the FOSS world is changing in a way that only $$$ can make things
happen, then we are starting to look too much like a business/enterprise
in my opinion. I got the same feeling when there were discussions about
the number of releases recently. To me it started to feel like a voting
to demand instead of asking for change.
Are we still a FOSS-project where people do their work for 'fun'  and
partly to get a living from it, or are we moving to a commercial entity
in which the money part is the most important? To me it is still the first.

It is important to have a good separation between 'community'-stuff, and
work that is done because users/companies ask for it. I think the
crowdfunding campaigns are a good thing: if users or important group of
users want something, dev's can offer it and it can be 'bought'.
But if a campaign fails: is it still worth the money?

I'm also aware that we are a heterogeneous community, so my view could
be rather extreme/idealistic compared to others. But I think one of the
strength's of QGIS is/was the community, we should foster it; we should
take care that we are not starting to act like a money-run business.
People are free to start QGIS-based-business's, but please do not use
the community for it.

Regards,

Richard Duivenvoorde