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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Subject: | RE: [gislist] GIS software/hardware donations for 3rd World |
| Date: |
01/25/2005 11:30:02 AM |
| From: |
Michael Gould |
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Confusion reigns, see below.
At 16:49 25/01/2005, Anthony Quartararo wrote:
>Wolf,
>
>As I pointed out, I personally had discussions with many overseas GIS
>professionals, and it was my anecdotal evidence of "99%" that I was
>expressing, not a formal scientific study. Open Source is not a new
>perspective really, GRASS has been around since, well, almost since the=
"big
>bang" yet it has not appreciable impact on the global GIS market.
Impact on the market is not usually a measurement of FOSS success.=20
Thousands of people have chosen Grass over the years, for the ability to=20
play with the C code without restrictive licensing. Some key Grass=20
"players" went on to form OGC, where *some* of that spirit (open=20
interfaces) has rubbed off and *is* making an impact on the GIS market. :-)
>My point
>was not to incite yet another flame-fest about "open source vs. COTS" GIS
>software, not at all.
the flames did not come from any such comparison: the original thread was=20
how to help train people in developing areas via GIS donations.
Then *somebody* said that open source was wrong for that purpose.
>Cheap webserver software (Apache) has nothing to do
>with GIS software.
Is Apache "cheaper" than MS IIS? And is cheaper the distinguishing feature=
=20
of FOSS? Not in my book.
>Mozilla Thunderbird is a great email client. Does it
>have a dent in other COTS email clients? Not really.
Most e-mail clients are freeware or people use demos. Again, the=20
distinction is not normally price. It's licensing.
>To each his own. If
>communities or individuals want to pursue open source, great, more power to
>you (them).
Yes indeed. And if the FOSS is buggy or unsupported it's their problem.=20
Just like in the commercial software world :-)
cheers,
Mike Gould
p.s.- and if commercial entities donate software to developing areas,=20
great, but it should be without strings attached....that is, they should=20
also get free updates, Internet support, etc. Otherwise its "bread for=20
today, starvation tomorrow".
>-----Original Message-----
>
>At 2:31 PM -0500 1/21/05, Anthony Quartararo wrote:
> >I too have heard this very strong desire in the developing world, over
> >and over. However, when pressed, 99% of all people
>
>Anthony, is this a serious statistic for which you can cite an unbiased
>study?
>
> >that bring it up qualify
> >their desire for open source as something they see as the only
> >alternative to ESRI, Intergraph, MapInfo, Autodesk, Smallworld, etc.
> >because of price, bottom line. Has much less to do with the side by
> >side technical capabilities comparison between any/all COTS GIS
> >products. So, the conclusion is, that if the TCO of COTS GIS were more
> >appropriately priced for a global market rather than making it MORE
> >expensive (vs. US pricing) in some international locations, then I
> >would wager that no one would ever entertain open source GIS, except for
>the occasional hobbyist.
>
>"Also, let's refrain from patronizing people in developing countries. "
>
>
>Who's patronizing who ?
>
>
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-----------------------
Michael Gould
Information Systems Department
(Lenguajes y Sistemas Inform=E1ticos)
Universitat Jaume I
E-12071 Castell=F3n, Spain
http://www.mgould.com
GeoInfo group http://www.geoinfo.uji.es
and TeIDE SDI consortium http://redgeomatica.rediris.es/teide/
2005 Vespucci summer school http://www.vespucci.org
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