Scale rears it's ugly head. For a company large enough to provide your boss with a sense of "safety" in terms of presence, longevity, and track record, the scale of benefit available ($5000 over three years?) is not worth pursuing. As I used to say back when I was running Refractions, "I don't get out of bed for less than $25,000".
$5000 will hire you a one man band, but a one man band isn't what your boss is looking for, methinks. P. On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 9:43 AM, Landon Blake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks for the input Frank. You make some valid points. > > I may try to find a company that is willing to provide my own company > with programming and other technical support for OpenJUMP. I could do > this myself, but I just don't have the time. I really believe OpenJUMP > can do everything this particular client will need, with only a couple > of minor exceptions. The beautiful aspect of using OpenJUMP is that it > would be very easy to tailor the software to meet the special needs of > the client. (For example: The State of California has specific > regulations that require an inventory of the district's pipe network and > of sanitary sewer overflows into the storm drain system.) > > However, there is no way my boss will use OpenJUMP if I don't have an > actual business backing me up on the support side. Unfortunately for > this surveyor OpenJUMP will always be a hobby, and not a business. I > need to find someone for which it can be a business. > > I'll post on the OpenJUMP mailing list to see if there are any > organizations there that would be interested in responding to a simple > RFP for OpenJUMP support. I'd prefer to use an organization that is > already contributing to the community, but if there is a company here > that might be interested in this type of work they can e-mail me > off-list. My work e-mail address is lblake at ksninc dot com. > > I'd be looking for a company with experience in Java, open source > development, and with GIS. I'm thinking it will only be a couple > thousand dollars of work up front, and maybe an additional couple > thousand over the course of the next two years. However, if we're > successful there could be opportunities for work with more of my > clients. > > Landon > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Frank Warmerdam > Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:29 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Geowanking] Request For Opinions On MapInfo > > Landon Blake wrote: >> I've got a small sanitary district that has asked my company for >> assistance with implementing a GIS. Unfortunately I won't be able to >> utilize open source GIS programs that I work with on this project, or > at >> least not as extensively as I would like to. So I am currently >> considering alternatives. I know most people use ESRI software, but if > I >> can't use open source I'd like to give the little guy a chance. >> >> Do any wankers have experience with MapInfo? How does it measure up >> against the "light" version of ESRI's ArcView? How would it compare to > a >> program like QGIS or OpenJUMP? > > Landon, > > I don't think many people would consider MapInfo a "little guy" in the > GIS market, though they aren't in the dominant position of ESRI. > > I'm not sure what is driving your selection criteria for software. > If it isn't price, then "use what you know" even if it is ESRI might > be wise. If price is an issue, then you might contemplate something > like Manifold. But if you can't use QGIS, etc, then there must > presumably be some particular feature set driving things (I'd hope!) > so not expressing that makes it hard to evaluate. > > I will say that MapInfo is a major desktop GIS package and in > recent years has addressed use of spatial databases as the backend > fairly seriously. > > Best regards, > -- > ---------------------------------------+-------------------------------- > ------ > I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam > and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Programmer for Rent > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > > > Warning: > Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects > including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the > intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, > distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you > have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
