[Osmf-talk] API up after maint. was: Two day of down server is not possible !!!!

[Andrew Turner]

On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 4:11 PM, Frederik Ramm<frederik at remote.org> wrote:
> We could work on educating the public so that the expectation is removed,
> rather than do what the mainstream expects from us.
>
> I'm not totally against what you're suggesting but I sense some "slippery
> slope" here; maybe it is time to get the message across more clearly that we
> are not in anyway a Google Maps replacement and if people expect this from
> us they should change their expectations. (Because they'll be "expecting"
> routing, and aerial imagery, and "MyMap" features, and all that in no time
> if we don't set the record straight.)

Any project has a difficult transition moving from a hacking concept
into a widely used and publicly visible project. If there is actually
going to be perceived stability and maturity, then yes, OSM will have
to act in a way that the public expects it to.

This doesn't have to mean a full-service LBS site. Yet multinational
organizations, governments, media outlets, companies, and individuals
are all being made aware of what OpenStreetMap is.

So at the very least, static information about the project, the basic
utility should not disappear for days at a time.

Anything less relegates the project to be seen as overly geeky,
immature, and uninteresting. From my perspective, this is not where
the project wants to be going. We constantly push how it is the more
open alternative to Google MapMaker, or other data repositories. That
can't be an actual comparison until we recognize that the basic
aspects of OSM need to stay available.

And Consider how much discussion there was at SOTM on the low
usability of the front page. It matters a lot to the project!

So lets separate and identify what are key characteristics of
OpenstreetMap.org that be available all the time, and what pieces of
the API, tools, that should be able to be taken offline.

Andrew