[Qgis-user] Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] augmenting donations

[Agustin Lobo]

I think the way to go should be a Foundation, taking R as example:
http://www.r-project.org/foundation/main.html
http://www.r-project.org/foundation/memberlist.html

It would be easier for universities and research institutions.

Also, qgis and grass are independent projects.  It's good
that qgis has a plugin to facilitate the link to grass, but this
also exists for R and should exist for saga.

Agus

Andreas Neumann wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to discuss the sponsoring issue a little bit. For GIS 
> managers that are not in direct charge of their budgets but need to 
> discuss/approve their budget with their bosses/supervisors, I can say 
> that:
>
> * It is relatively easy to raise money for development work of 
> concrete features that are to be implemented - bosses usually see a 
> direct value out of this - and they are already used to pay 
> non-open-source corporations for their specific development efforts 
> anyway
> * it is harder to raise money for bug-fixing - managers are often used 
> to pay subscription fees or support contracts to commercial vendors, 
> but usually aren't used to paying money to fix bugs
> * it is very hard to justify donations - as bosses usually don't 
> understand the open-source model fully - and often don't see their 
> responsibilities as a user of an open-source project
>
> I am just trying to help you guys to understand how government 
> agencies or companies often work (exceptions are always possible). It 
> is important to educate managers regarding the open-source development 
> model. They are just not used to it and at the first glimpse they can 
> find it strange - even if it is to their advantage.
>
> One may discuss if QGIS/GRASS (or other projects) could offer yearly 
> support contracts. It may help to raise additional money in some 
> cases. It is important to distinguish such contracts from their fully 
> commercial counterparts. Customers shouldn't be forced into paying 
> those fees/contracts - but they may fell better with paying them. 
> Probably, such contracts, would have to be done by individual 
> companies - or could the steering board coordinate such activities?
>
> Many managers in government agencies don't want to be held responsible 
> in case things go wrong - and in case of using open-source software 
> they are fully responsible about their decisions, whereas with 
> commercial software they can always blame their commercial vendor 
> (even if the contracts are always in favor of the software vendor and 
> includes very limited liability of the vendor). At least in 
> Switzerland I know that many GIS managers are thinking this way. They 
> often want to at least share their responsibility with an external 
> company.
>
> Just my two cents,
>
> Andreas
>
> Markus Neteler wrote:
>> Thanks a lot to GFOSS.it! And to the folks managing the donations.
>>
>> To remember:
>> http://www.qgis.org/sponsorship.html
>> http://grass.osgeo.org/donation.php
>>
>> Also small donations are welcome.
>>
>> Best
>> Markus
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Paolo 
>> Cavallini<cavallini at faunalia.it> wrote:
>>  
>>> Hi all.
>>> At GFOSS.it, we just decided to increase the donations we receive on
>>> behalf of projects that adhered to the microdonation initiative
>>> (currently GRASS and QGIS), by adding one euro from our budget to every
>>> euro donated. I hope this will be appreciated.
>>> So now your donations have now more effect for the well being of the
>>> projects. Of course, other projects are welcome to join in.
>>> All the best.
>>> -- 
>>> Paolo Cavallini: http://www.faunalia.it/pc
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>>     
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>
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