[Gvsig_english] QUESTION gvSIG 1.9 (BN 1253) -- Future of gvSIG and Sextante

[Silvio Grosso]

Hi Ben,

> Sorry if this sounds a bit frustrated, but this is exactly the
sort of opacity that will send external contributes running away
if it keeps up (please see my more extensive comments below).

WOW!  What a tricky topic to discuss :-)
Maybe this is something to think about during the week-end before writing
anything :-)

As for me, I don't have any fixed opinion regarding the right path to take.
Discussing with other Italian Gis's users, over the years, I might point out
some "criticisms" I have collected (regarding this lack of "openness"):
1. The roadmap about gvSIG is really outdated. Its last update is two years
old....(that is, March 2008). 
I am aware there are many teams working on gvSIG right now but two years...
2. There is not an easy way to take a look at the bugs affecting gvSIG. 
I am aware gvSIG is going to change completely with the gvSIG 2 version but
this lack of "openness" was true even for the previous versions of gvSIG
(1.1 etc).
3. Some users claims Qgis' developers are more "open". Probably this is the
most "nasty" criticism :-(
This criticism is "justified" by the number of plugins donated by the
community to the Qgis project (e.g. those written in Python) or by some
events organized thanks to the community: in short, through its financial
support (e.g.  the last one held in Pisa last week:
http://www.qgis.org/en/developer-meetings/pisa-2010.html).
This being said, currently, the Italian community (e.g. Alessandro Sgambati)
has been organizing the third meeting of gvSIG's Italian users in Trieste,
due in April 2010 :-)
4. Probably gvSIG's developers answer the messages of the International
mailing list privately, but, sometimes, it looks like gvSIG's patches are
not taken into account in a "short" lapse of time (e.g.
http://listserv.gva.es/pipermail/gvsig_internacional/2010-March/005039.html). 
I am not a programmer but I suppose this can be a bit frustrating.

Please don't take these points as negative or "offensive". 
I am totally aware being open source is MUCH more difficult than being
closed source.
On top of that, it is definitely much more time-consuming :-)
In my honest experience, all in all, I am satisfaied about gvSIG's
developers. 
Mario Carrera, just to name one of them, has been really really helpful when
we worked on the Italian manual.

Best regards,

Silvio
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