[OSM-talk] Making iD the default editor on osm.org

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 08/23/13 01:11, Paul Johnson wrote:
>  > Given the maintenance situation on P2, promoting iD seems like the
> only way forward.
>
> Web launch a JOSM session?

As an avid JOSM user and former member of the JOSM programming team I am 
happy to see that JOSM is thriving.

Making the default "edit" action web-launch JOSM however would probably 
be the end of that (and not just because of the technological issues of 
web launch). Tons of newbies, overwhelmed by JOSM's broad array of 
capabilities and the not-necessarily-simple user interface that comes 
with it, would violate our data in ways that would make experienced 
mappers hark back to the good old days when it was only Potlatch 1 that 
people could do damage with. The limited available JOSM developer time 
would quickly be used up by making every bit of JOSM "newbie proof", and 
experienced users would complain about limitations introduced to reduce 
potential damage.

Frankly I am quite happy that we have, in JOSM, an editor that, while 
free for everyone to try out, does target the more demanding users, and 
can therefor afford to be a little more demanding itself. An editor 
where as a programmer you don't have to think about whether your users 
know what a way or a node is and so on.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"