Open Planet, 77 Pages to Change Your Mind
It has been a very active year in the gvSIG conference, we have had in Italy, United Kingdom, France -In the framework of francophone countries-, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil - in Latin America - and as is tradition, here is the Open Planet edition that accompanies the recent international gvSIG conference. But its content is not tradition, I build the article using some of the quotes that have seemed insurmountable to me, that resemble the slogan and campaign that the gvSIG Foundation has held In recent months:
"Conquering Space"
But we consider that it is not enough, that it is necessary to take another step. And so it is, as a project we want and work to conquer new spaces, spaces not yet won by free geomatics and reserved for those who speculate on the monopoly of knowledge. Has arrived
The moment of not conforming, to continue working and organizing so that knowledge, technology, and geomatics are a universal good, available to all. Without giving up anything
The magazine n
You think it is a valuable systematization of the principles that the Association is betting on, taking into account that those who must change the disc first are the users, who in a large majority do not have the opportunity to attend a day with luxury of content as it was the last ones. It also seems to us consistent with the next step, in continuity with the principles that the names of the previous sessions remind us of:
- We share knowledge
- Building Realities
- We on keep growing
- Consolidate and move forward
- Moving forward together
- To know to transform
In truth, the bet is a strong challenge, even many would consider it naive. But the current circumstances remind us that a few years ago the gvSIG that we now have was also a dream in the heads of a few; And I am not referring to the software but to a project with a vision of sustainability based on internationalization and implementation of a new collaboration model. As Gabriel Carrión says, “7 years ago they believed that we were going to crash with our own will ... but to this day we have managed to reach a point that seemed to be unfeasible. As the motto of the second days was saying, we are "building realities".
I myself have been a critic for some time of what In my opinion has been the weakness of OpenSource projects: Sustainability. But I must admit, not only because of the facts but also because of my pessimistic perceptions from a while ago, that listening to the warmth with which users talk about how they got involved with gvSIG in Italy, Russia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia is a valuable incentive of the maturity that the community has achieved. That community that we all make up, from our different contexts:
… Geographical, linguistic, users, developers, companies, universities; the technicians and the managers… a sum that forms a collective that pushes with force in each one of its plots in pursuit of the common interest.
The best thing that this edition brings are the experiences of users, I am satisfied with the initiative of Mexico where surely you have to enter with great force, knowing that the door has been opened through the Veracruzana University of Xalapa... we'll see what happens because much of what happens in Mexico replicates in Central America almost by inertia. I also find the project “La Shovel and the Melon” interesting, which at the initiative of a 10-year-old girl will teach important lessons not only to Costa Rica but to the entire continent.
I recommend downloading the magazine, reading it, enjoying it and although we each live in a different environment, there are many things to learn there.
What prevents free software from becoming a real option in all professional fields?
Working with free software but maintaining proprietary software schemes is not a good practice ...
To seek that SMEs that bet on free software stop being seen exclusively as competition between them ...
Will the gvSIG Association be an association that responds to the new model?
The truth is that at a technical or technological level, the community has proven to be up to par. Now we are working on taking the next step towards business organization; In this, without a doubt, the challenge is complex, but we all agree with the Foundation's thinking: it is better to go together, or as Aesop put it 2,600 years ago: “Unity is strength”.
Now it becomes interesting, the consolidation and acceptance of models. The word "Collaborate" is at stake, which we see clearly in the service providers, with whom I believe high fidelity and benefits will be achieved in both ways after hard work and understanding of differences -And sure some tolerance-. However, there is a cloth to cut, as in the case of us who play the trumpet so that others know, and who respond to a community that asks not only for free solutions but -And mostly– by proprietary solutions; here it will be necessary to find interesting alliances and balance, since the aim is not to assassinate anyone but that everyone compete on equal terms; without ceasing to be "collaborators".
Collaborate is to move away from proprietary software?
I am aware that the largest number of users who visit Geofumadas, work with AutoCAD, ArcGIS, Microstation or Google Earth, I am also aware that many of them make illegal use of licenses. But I am also convinced that having a wide audience is the best place to make known, on equal terms, the benefits of both proprietary and open software; because (for now) the first is necessary for the sustainability of the sector and the second is the model that will change our way of seeing business in the next 15 years.
The geospatial case is enviable, since GIS solutions have exceeded the expectations of brand software, but the field of engineering is wide and to date free CADs are far from being a strong competition, not to say about engineering items. ...
Right at this time, more or less we understand where OpenSource will go, as well as we understand that both models (it is the challenge) will coexist in the future although little by little on equal terms. It may sound difficult for some to think about it like that, but it is just as if we thought that in the future there will Open Source Hardware, Crazy !, that we thought 15 years ago.
Here you can download the magazine
http://jornadas.gvsig.org/descargas/revista
Here you can follow the geographical communities.
Argentina
Brazil
Costa Rica
Italy
Russia
Uruguay
Paraguay
The first language community (Francophone)
The first thematic community (GvSIG Campus)
