[Osmf-talk] seeking funding ideas

[Richard Fairhurst]

Iván Sánchez Ortega wrote:
> *IF* it's done right and *IF* the price is high enough, it *MIGHT* be a
> good idea.

Seriously, it mightn't.

The "doing it right" and the "high enough price" aren't really the  
issues. I agree it could be done right. But the lesson learned from  
last time was community cohesion. Or, in other words, it pisses people  
off => fewer mappers => less data.

And that was when we were a little project. I think these days you'd  
be guaranteed 8 zillion Diggs about "OSM sells out", front-page on  
Slashdot and Michael Douchebag Arrington writing some more nonsense on  
TechCrunch. "High enough price" to counter all the negative PR? I  
don't think there is such a thing.

Bear in mind also that there's a nascent commercial industry around  
OSM. We want that industry to thrive, and competing with it wouldn't  
help that.

cheers
Richard