On Jan 13, 2006, at 11:32 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote:
Dear Community Members,
In order to help move along the process of starting an "open source
geospatial foundation" there will be a face-to-face meeting in
Chicago, Westin O'Hare, on February 4, 2006, hosted by Autodesk. In
conceiving of this meeting, we have tried (and will continue to try)
to follow these principles:
- Inclusion. Members from a number of different open source projects
have been invited (see the list so far below) and Autodesk has offered
to pay the travel costs of some of these invitees in order to ensure
they can attend if they cannot afford it otherwise. Anyone else is
also welcome to attend physically or virtually (see below).
Thanks to everyone for making this possible. There is a potential
problem with the above (note: I have said "potential," hence, it is
entirely possible that there may be no problem at all).
The meeting is hosted by Autodesk, and Autodesk will also pay for some
of the attendees to attend the meeting. Most of the negative reaction
to the initial announcement stemmed from a feeling of a free/open
source project and its name and goodwill being usurped by a for-profit,
closed source, publicly held corporation. Most everyone welcomed
Autodesk, but most everyone did not want to have the MapServer
Enterprise name applied to their product.
I hope Autodesk's financial underwriting of the above event will not
create a conflict of interest of any sort. Would it be worthwhile
publicly announcing the event so other private corporations have an
equal opportunity to attend/sponsor/represent at the event?
Personally, I am happy that the meeting is at a place that I can
attend. Well, it is 150 miles from here, but I can drive there on my
own steam without feeling obligated to anyone. But, it would have been
nicer to have the meeting at a "neutral" location and perhaps even at a
neutral event. For example, the meeting could be held at UMN, or even
at a "rented" meeting room at O'Hare -- I would be happy to chip in
toward the cost from my pocket if the expense is reasonable.
In any case, I believe this is an important and concrete step forward,
and I welcome and support it. As long as we come to the meeting with an
open and constructive mind, there shouldn't be any issue. Thanks again,
to all those who made it possible (and that includes Autodesk).
--
Puneet Kishor
