[Web Comm] RE: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory

[Tyler Mitchell]

I saw this idea as being a simple opt-in list of businesses that  
provide support/development services for OSGeo projects.  Nothing  
more or less.  People want to know that there are consultants that  
can, for example, help them implement mapbuilder.  To get on the  
list, the company must check off boxes to identify which osgeo  
projects they provide support for.  We'll leave it to them to know  
enough about whether they really support them or not.  I would avoid  
having any free-form text entry at all, so that there is no way to  
'compete' between entries.

The complexities of this idea are all related to making judgement  
calls about businesses who sign up.  Let's avoid that altogether by  
being totally open.  We could annually review the list, with the  
option to follow-up directly with each business if there were  
questions/confusion.  We can react to complaints, of course, but I  
see it as a very hands-off public services directory.

Tyler

On 26-Sep-06, at 3:49 PM, Jason Birch wrote:

>
> My point was that if ESRI (or Autodesk or anyone) wants to define
> themselves as an open source solution provider, then they would be
> welcome on the list.  They would also select the applications that  
> they
> provide solutions for from a fixed list.  This isn't a "keep ESRI out"
> organisation, it's an organisation for promoting open source software.
> Getting ESRI on the list would actually be a big win for us :)
>
> Jason
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 15:43
> To: Jason Birch
> Cc: Tyler Mitchell; dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
>
> Ok - so let's try a specific example, that would happen to affect  
> me, to
> see how this would work.
>
> So based on this argument - DM Solutions could list our new DMSG
> Premiere commercial support service for MapGuide Open Source (because
> it's based on the open source technology), but Autodesk couldn't list
> MGE Subscription because it's a proprietary product based on MGOS.
>
> Furthermore - Autodesk business partners who provide services  
> around MGE
> could not list their services, but DMSG business partners for DMSG
> Premiere could list their services ... Sounds good to me :) but
> seriously I really don't think this would be appropriate. In  
> particular
> I have very big concerns about OSGeo defining who is open source
> friendly, and who is not.
>
> This is just one example of a potential major problem with going down
> this road.
>
>
> You don't see an equivalent of this in the Apache Foundation -- likely
> for precisely this reason.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jason Birch wrote:
>> We would police reactively.  If the community notices a provider that
>> does not actually offer the services stated, we'd take care of them
>> (euphemism?).
>>
>> The intention was to make this a service (not product) directory for
>> providers that give support directly for open source packages.  I
> don't
>> think that ESRI offers direct support for GDAL, but if they do I  
>> think
>> that they would be welcomed in the list.
>>
>> Excluding languages and products from the directory would limit its
>> usefulness to the users.
>>
>> Jason
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca]
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 14:34
>> To: Jason Birch
>> Cc: Tyler Mitchell; dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
>> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
>>
>> I understand both needs for sure -- just trying to see if there is a
>> means to achieve both goals.
>>
>> Perhaps one way to make this simpler would be to restrict the service
>> provider directory to simply an organization name and link to website
> so
>> that it doesn't cannibalize the promotional opportunity on the
>> sponsorship side. Otherwise we have this weird situation where you  
>> can
>> get more info available to people for free than you can get by being
> an
>> Associate Sponsor.
>>
>>
>> Also - how is this policed? Who has authority to determine that
> Company
>> X is a valid service provider, and Company Y is not? That seems like
>> some very murky water to me. ESRI has GDAL built into their software
> --
>> so can they include their services on OSGeo? If we say no to ESRI,
> would
>> we not have to say no to Autodesk since MapGuide Enterprise is a
>> proprietary bundling of MGOS? That doesn't seem fair. OTOH if we say
>> anybody can be a service provider if they make use of any OSGeo
>> technology (which is most of the Geospatial universe) -- than is  
>> there
>> any value to it?
>>
>> Ok - devil's advocate I know ... I'm not suggesting one thing is  
>> right
>> or wrong -- simply that it gets extremely gray. We might be  
>> creating a
>> monster we don't know how to manage down the road.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> --
>> Dave McIlhagga
>> President, DM Solutions Group
>>
>> http://www.dmsolutions.ca/premiere
>> EMail : dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca
>> Phone : 613-565-5056 x15
>> Fax : 613-565-0925
>>
>> Jason Birch wrote:
>>> Sponsors will be listed on the "Sponsors" page, and will be entitled
>>> to place an OSGeo Sponsor graphic on their website; these benefits
>>> will not be diluted.
>>>
>>> We talked about having an appropriate "sponsor" flag show up next to
>>> the listing?
>>>
>>> I think that it's important that we maintain a directory that  
>>> doesn't
>
>>> require sponsorship, while making sponsorship of value to those
>>> entering their details into the directory.
>>>
>>> Consultants will initially enter their details into the list, and
> then
>>
>>> consider sponsorship as a way of increasing their visibility within
>>> the list?
>>>
>>> Jason
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Dave McIlhagga [mailto:dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 14:05
>>> To: Tyler Mitchell
>>> Cc: dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board
>>> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Board] Service Provider Directory
>>>
>>> Could this diminish value of some of the OSGeo Sponsorships? Visible
>>> association for companies with OSGeo was one of the benefits we had
>>> outlined for some of the packages -- so this would make that case a
>>> lot more difficult.
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>> Tyler Mitchell wrote:
>>>> On 26-Sep-06, at 11:21 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>>>>> Tyler, could you add a link to the entry form on the community
> site?
>>>>> I can't
>>>>> seem to find it.
>>>> Done, added it to the bottom of your wiki page.
>>>>
>>>>
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