[Web Comm] New content. Please review...

[Jason Birch]

Thanks Frank.

I based that text on my personal experience with OSGeo technology, while
trying to use language that would counter the marketing hype of the
proprietary vendors.  Both pages could definitely use some revision by
folks more in-tune with the advantages of OSGeo and what the foundation
wants from visitors (how to help).

There are editable copies of these (and other pages I want to write) on
the wiki, and I'm not all that emotionally tied to the content :)

http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/WebComTODO

Jason 

-----Original Message-----
From: fwarmerdam at gmail.com [mailto:fwarmerdam at gmail.com] On Behalf Of
Frank Warmerdam
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:51
To: dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Web Comm] New content. Please review...

On 8/10/06, Jason Birch <Jason.Birch at nanaimo.ca> wrote:

> I've added three new project pages, and adjusted some of the existing
ones.  Can you please give them a sanity check before they go out for
review to make sure I didn't do something stupid like mixing up the
features?

Jason,

Based on a quick skim, I think the project pages look good.

> https://www.osgeo.org/content/faq/how_can_i_help_osgeo.html

I found the "how can I help" document great, but very project oriented.
It doesn't really talk about how people can help OSGeo - instead coming
across in a very project-community oriented way.

> https://www.osgeo.org/content/faq/why_open_source_geospatial.html

This is a nice job, but I'm not sure I'm really satisfied with it.

Interoperability
 - Not all open source packages do a good job at interoperability.
   This point seems more in support of standards based software and
   only loosely applies to open source.

 Rapid innovation
  - right on.  short "time to market" for new features is clearly a
benefit of open source.

Elegant Solutions
 - I found this point a bit weak.  First, there is a lot of overlap
between some of our
   packages.  Second, the title just strikes me as some sort of techy
elitest snobbery.


Personal Support
 - as a developer often drawn on for support, I'm not sure I like
encouraging
   too much direct-to-developer contact!
 - Perhaps titling it "Supportive Community" and emphasizing the variety
   of support options (from dev contact, community mailing lists, and
variety
   of commercial support options).
 - I love the part about "call center scripts" though to be honest I've
seen that
   more in general IT rather than our industry.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------
---------------------------------------+------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam,
warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent

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