On November 28, 2005 15:51, John Craddock wrote: > Viewing all this through the looking glass, it seems to me that we have > just witnessed the largest reverse takeover of a community brand name by a > commercial organisation in corporate IT history...
John, The takeover scenario is a moot point, especially in light of the establishment of the foundation. That is the whole purpose of having an arms-length, community-run organisation to manage and protect things. Finding a way for diverse companies, non-profits, individuals and government has been what MapServer is all about. That is why MapServer is what it is today. That is what this announcement is all about too. Rather than go it alone, we believe that the result can be greater than the sum of its parts. We sought to find common ground and even common names so that we can be seen as cooperating rather than competing, sharing rather than trying to take advantage. Autodesk didn't push over the developers and grab the name from them, the use of the name was a mutual idea and discussed. To make it out that Autodesk "took" something is not fair nor accurate. Commercial groups have been building on MapServer for years, they've provided some of the excellent support and development we've enjoyed. Our relationship with Autodesk need not be any different - another developer and supporter, at the table with the rest of us. This isn't about MapServer vs. Autodesk - it's about finding a way to work with a new group in the open source web mapping community. I believe that we have common goals and that Autodesk is not interested in stacking the deck or doing a power-play on the rest of us - it wouldn't fit within our community and would be counter to a foundation. You can turn them away to do their own thing or work together for a common goal. Tyler
