I think the way to go should be a Foundation, taking R as example:
http://www.r-project.org/foundation/main.html
http://www.r-project.org/foundation/memberlist.html
It would be easier for universities and research institutions.
Also, qgis and grass are independent projects. It's good
that qgis has a plugin to facilitate the link to grass, but this
also exists for R and should exist for saga.
Agus
Andreas Neumann wrote:
Hi all,
I would like to discuss the sponsoring issue a little bit. For GIS
managers that are not in direct charge of their budgets but need to
discuss/approve their budget with their bosses/supervisors, I can say
that:
* It is relatively easy to raise money for development work of
concrete features that are to be implemented - bosses usually see a
direct value out of this - and they are already used to pay
non-open-source corporations for their specific development efforts
anyway
* it is harder to raise money for bug-fixing - managers are often used
to pay subscription fees or support contracts to commercial vendors,
but usually aren't used to paying money to fix bugs
* it is very hard to justify donations - as bosses usually don't
understand the open-source model fully - and often don't see their
responsibilities as a user of an open-source project
I am just trying to help you guys to understand how government
agencies or companies often work (exceptions are always possible). It
is important to educate managers regarding the open-source development
model. They are just not used to it and at the first glimpse they can
find it strange - even if it is to their advantage.
One may discuss if QGIS/GRASS (or other projects) could offer yearly
support contracts. It may help to raise additional money in some
cases. It is important to distinguish such contracts from their fully
commercial counterparts. Customers shouldn't be forced into paying
those fees/contracts - but they may fell better with paying them.
Probably, such contracts, would have to be done by individual
companies - or could the steering board coordinate such activities?
Many managers in government agencies don't want to be held responsible
in case things go wrong - and in case of using open-source software
they are fully responsible about their decisions, whereas with
commercial software they can always blame their commercial vendor
(even if the contracts are always in favor of the software vendor and
includes very limited liability of the vendor). At least in
Switzerland I know that many GIS managers are thinking this way. They
often want to at least share their responsibility with an external
company.
Just my two cents,
Andreas
Markus Neteler wrote:
Thanks a lot to GFOSS.it! And to the folks managing the donations.
To remember:
http://www.qgis.org/sponsorship.html
http://grass.osgeo.org/donation.php
Also small donations are welcome.
Best
Markus
On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Paolo
Cavallini wrote:
Hi all.
At GFOSS.it, we just decided to increase the donations we receive on
behalf of projects that adhered to the microdonation initiative
(currently GRASS and QGIS), by adding one euro from our budget to every
euro donated. I hope this will be appreciated.
So now your donations have now more effect for the well being of the
projects. Of course, other projects are welcome to join in.
All the best.
--
Paolo Cavallini: http://www.faunalia.it/pc
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