Agreed on both points, Larry. I'm not sure how best to track usage. And even if it was tracked, it would still require a marketing department to follow up and try and beat some business out of the users, wouldn't it?
As for a paid support option, I can say that Refractions Research is fully ready and capable of providing OpenJUMP development and support. We are already working with OpenJUMP on a project to add stereoscopic visualization. We have a team of 20 highly skilled IT development staff, and obviously are specialists in all aspects of spatial data processing. We'd be happy to discuss this with anyone interested - just contact me. Martin Larry Becker wrote: > It sounds like Landon was already on the same page as what I > suggested. What I took away from this discussion is that in order for > OpenJump to be commercially viable, there would need to be a paid > support option. While this may sound like an opportunity for some > enterprising people to start a GIS company, it is hard to make the > business case that there is any demand for this. Of course, it is a > chicken and egg problem. No support until there is demand, and no > demand until there is support. > > What we need is a way to track the number of users that use OpenJump > in their business. This is just not possible with the sourceforge > download system. Voluntary registration is the only option that I can > think of besides putting some sort of tracking system in the software > itself that registers for automatic updates or some such. > > regards, > Larry > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Martin Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > > While I all in favour of see funding available to improve OpenJUMP, I > think I agree with Larry - that's an ambitious list of features, which > might take more than the proposed budget to implement effectively. > (They're all solid real-world use cases, though, which would be > good to > add to the OJ roadmap). > > Larry's idea of a mixed environment is a good one, I think. Have you > thought about looking at Manifold? It's a very inexpensive, > high-function GIS platform. > > Sunburned Surveyor wrote: > > The company that I work for (KSN Inc.) has a small sanitary district > > that has been our client for several decades. Because of some new > > government regulations they have to prepare base map and > inventory of > > their entire sanitary system. My company beleives this is a good > > opportunity to implement a small and simple GIS for the district. My > > boss is currently having me look into different proprietary software > > systems that we might use to implement the GIS. > > > > However, after taking a look at the proprietary software that is > > available in our price range, I really beleive that OpenJUMP is a > > viable candidate. Here is the problem: I don't have time with my > other > > work responisiblities to provide dedicated programming services for > > OpenJUMP when these will be needed by the client (and they will be > > needed). I can't go to my boss to suggest OpenJUMP as a possible > > software package for the GIS implementation unless I have a third > > party organization that would be willing to work on customization of > > OpenJUMP to meet the client's needs. I'm not sure if we have any > > organizations involved in our community that would be interested in > > this type of work. (I know Larry Becker does something like this, > > Martin Davis has his little business, and I think the deegree > Project > > also does this type of work.) If I can't find a company that is > > interested in this type of work I'll have to fall back on a > > proprietary solution. > > > > If we do have some companies that might be interested, I will > prepare > > a short request-for-proposal. Here is what I am thinking I'll need > > out-of-the-gate: > > > > - Some enhanced SVG export abilities. I'm not talking about using > > Batik. I need something that is more precise and that maps the > > transition from OpenJUMP's task coordinate system to the SVG > > coordinate system in a predictable and repeatable fashion. I've > > already started fleshing some of this code out, but it isn't > complete. > > I need to be able to get features from OpenJUMP exported as SVG > > tailored for Inkscape for map production. > > > > - Better support for DXF import and export. My company works > with CAD > > data almost exclusively, and this project would be dealing with > a lot > > of CAD data. I need a reliable DXF import and export plug-in. > > Something could probably be built using the existing DXF > plug-ins, but > > it would need a little tweaking. I'd really only bei nterested > in the > > following CAD entities: Lines, LWPolylines, Points, and Text. > However, > > I'd like to see an underlying DXF parser that makes other drawing > > entities available to the client API. > > > > - Support for external tables. I don't want to use a database > here. I > > just want to be able to view, manipulate, and query tabular data > in an > > external file. I'd probably want to use CSV files, although I'd be > > open to an implementation that used binary files. > > > > I'm thinking I'll have a ballpark budget of $3,000 to $6,000, > which is > > what it would cost to license a proprietary solution for the first > > year. I could likely make a similar amount available in subsequent > > years for additional development work. As part of the proposal I'd > > also like an approximate hourly rate for bug-fixing. > > > > All and any code developed under this project would be released > under > > the GPL or LGPL, and the developing company could maintain the > > copyright. If I can make this implementation successful, there would > > be potential for additional business with other KSN clients. > > > > I think this is a great opportunity to get some paid development > > contributed back to the OpenJUMP community. I hope we have an > > organization that is interested. I wish I had the time to do the > work > > myself. > > > > Please let me know if you'd be interesetd in responding to an RFP > > similar to the one I describe above. Or, if you are interested in > > cost-sharing the development of some of the improvements for > OpenJUMP > > that I describe above, let me know that as well. > > > > The Sunburned Surveyor > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move > Developer's challenge > > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win > great prizes > > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere > in the world > > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > <http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/> > > _______________________________________________ > > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > <mailto:Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > > > > > > -- > Martin Davis > Senior Technical Architect > Refractions Research, Inc. > (250) 383-3022 > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win > great prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in > the world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > <http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/> > _______________________________________________ > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > <mailto:Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > > > > > -- > http://amusingprogrammer.blogspot.com/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > -- Martin Davis Senior Technical Architect Refractions Research, Inc. 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