[Qgis-psc] Thoughts

Anita Graser anitagraser at gmx.at
Wed Mar 27 13:01:31 PDT 2019


Thank you for the thoughtful email, Paolo!

On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 7:44 AM Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it>
wrote:

> Among these, I see two lines that are to me particularly evident:
> * the increasing number and importance of proprietary tools ...

* the shift from a volunteer-only association ...

To be very clear, as Chair I do not judge these as problems ...

We are steadily growing stronger and bigger, and some of these changes
> might genuinely be unavoidable ...
>

I don't think we're the only ones in this situation but I'm having a hard
time identifying projects with a comparable community structure.


> We have to be especially careful because companies, smaller and larger,
> are a powerful engine driving us towards a better code, a faster
> development rate, and better overall quality. On the other hand, we are
> dependent on the volunteer work ...
>

One could say that we are in a lucky/luxurious position to have these
problems. At FOSSGIS in Dresden, OSM community members kept asking what's
the secret sauce to attract companies to invest in an open source project.

I have two aims writing this:
> * raise an open discussion on these points, to better cooperatively
> understand what are the priorities, the feelings and the aspirations of
> the community
>

I understand the romantic notion of volunteer-driven work, on the other
hand, I'm very aware that this perspective excludes people who - for
whatever reason - cannot afford to volunteer their time (even if they may
be very enthusiastic about the project). Therefore, having people get paid
for their work may also help towards increased diversity.


> * reach a consensus on our mission, drawing guidelines or a social
> contract à la Debian, or some other tool that could make everybody more
> happy at least in average.
>

Thanks for the pointer! I particularly like #4 "Our priorities are our
users and free software We will be guided by the needs of our users and the
free software community." (https://www.debian.org/social_contract)


> I'm fully aware this is a potentially disruptive topic, but a thoughtful
> discussion could lead us towards a stronger, more united community.


+1

Anita
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