On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:48:34 +0100, Nick Whitelegg <nick.whitel...@solent.ac.uk> wrote: >>Problem is that you create expectations that are difficult to fulfil by >>hobbyists with the haphazard setup that we have. If you want a reliable >>tile server, you need a proper computing centre with fallback hardware >>and all that, and admins paid for being woken up at 3am if something >>goes wrong. This costs a lot of money which we would have to acquire and
>>*not* spend for other things like supporting mapping in developing >>countries. - So, again: Why not let those who want to use the tiles and >>who require reliability pay for them? > > It seems rather contra to the spirit of free software and open source it > has to be said. As GNU puts it quite rightly: 'you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer"'. OSM does not hand out free beers (unlimited access to rendered tiles) but gives free speech (you can use and modify the data freely). But I agree it should be made clear that while OSM does give out some free beers, it is limited and when the tap is broken, there is no guarantee it will be on when the pub opens again. > But, the root cause is something unfortunately out of OSM's control - the > cost of server space, server power, and bandwidth needs to come down, it's > a significant hurdle to not-for-profit hobbyists wishing to develop > powerful websites. There is no such thing as free beer. If they want to depend on it, they should support the item they rely on i.e.: offer server space or give monetary support). Regards, Maarten _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
