[Osmf-talk] Death and evolution

[Paweł Paprota]

> While it might seem like your god given right that it rains manna on you
> because you have decided to work on something that you consider
> interesting and important in an OSM context, it is not going to happen
> just like that.

That is fair enough and I realize that it's how the world works. I just
wanted to give my "story" as an example of why Major Things are not
happening in OSM, perhaps someone who would be interested in/capable of
taking care of fundraising stuff (whatever "taking care" means in this
context - frankly I don't have any idea).

> 
> As in most fields of human endeavour if you want somebody to give you
> money you need to convince them that it is actually worth it, be it a
> bank, VCs, the OSMF or any other source of funds. Part of that is
> writing down what you are proposing to do, why it is important, how much
> it will cost and how long it will take to complete. You then approach
> likely sources and present your proposal to them and depending on a lot
> of things you might get support or not.
> 

Yes and that's why startups and business usually have more than one
person involved - a single person just cannot do everything at once. I
think that unless there is some kind of organisation to support major
efforts in OSM then capable people simply will not be attracted to OSM.
If I wanted to become a professional developer working on say Wikipedia,
KDE, Ubuntu or Linux Kernel I could just dig in, work my ass off in my
free time for a few years and then I can reasonably expect that I could
at least have some chance of becoming one. With OSM, tough luck.

> In the past two years the OSMF has not received a single funding
> request, project proposal or similar. In my book that doesn't really
> amount to trying hard at all.
> 

What is the procedure for such funding requests? Are there any success
stories where funds were actually provided and consumed? The only thing
I found when I was interested in this topic was bounty program in EWG -
something like $2000 for 10 Top Ten tasks - and that's in total (so $200
per task).

> I would further point out that there is no lack of funds available for
> well defined projects in OSMspace, and while the OSMF might not want to
> be directly involved (even that is not cast in stone) we could clearly
> lend credibility to projects that past muster.
> 

Again, where are such funds available? Also, as I understand it, it is a
large task in itself to get such funds - with no support from OSMF[-like
organisation] I don't see how an interested developer can get all the
paperwork, legwork and whatever else is needed for this AND actually
work on the code...

> Note on the side: belittling the skills and work of fellow developers
> tends to not make the best impression.
> 

Yup, saying what I think always gets me in trouble.

Paweł

> Simon
> 
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