[Gvsig_english] The non-spanish speaking gvSIG-community - do we have be to worried?

[Simon Cropper]

On 17/05/13 01:34, Wolfgang Qual wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I felt a bit worried about the fact that there's hardly any post on this
> list. Fortunately, this does not necessarily mean that there is no
> activty in the project: there *are* many posts on the spanish-speaking
> list [1]. However, for me as a non-spanish speaking gvSIG user, this
> does not help that much- questions remain unanswered and other people
> potentially interested in gvSIG will/could have the impression that the
> project is more dead than alive. Therefore, I sent a post to the
> spanish-speaking list [2]. I could imagine that it would have a kind of
> signal effect, if others would do so, too. "Give me a ping, Wassili. One
> ping only." [3] ;)
>
> Best,
> Wolfgang
>
>
> [1] http://listserv.gva.es/pipermail/gvsig_usuarios/
> [2]
> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/worries-about-the-gvSIG-community-td5053591.html
> [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0JaXfKj68
>

Wolfgang and others,

I have also noted a progressive reduction in the number of posts to this 
list. Such that last year I posted asking if it was still the 
international list.

Personally I think the bulk of the English contributors migrated to the 
"gvSIG Community Edition" fora when that split happened.

I have also noted that QGIS and GRASS are a lot better known in 
Australia and increasing in popularity despite gvSIG having more 
functionality and being easier to use. It is the non-Java platform, 
python integration and English-documentation that is so attractive to 
new-comers.

I frequent both the gvSIG and QGIS mail lists. On average, I get 1-2 
posts a week to the gvSIG list but 10-20 per day to the QGIS list. 
Progressively as Sextante and SAGA and GRASS are integrated into QGIS 
this is increasing.

As I stated last year, what little traction gvSIG had in 
English-speaking countries appeared to be lost when the gvSIG community 
had the acrimonious split in the developer community -- this was very 
public and very ugly. At this exact time QGIS was gaining in 
functionality and a range of people and provided a more vibrant 
cooperative ecosystem in which to thrive.

Of particular note was the move of Victor of Sextante fame from the 
gvSIG community to the QGIS community. Apparently retired according to 
his website but quite actively working on integrating Sextante into 
anything and everything geospatial (inc. ArcGIS).

Outreach, English-lists and other such things are of little value if you 
can't get people to give the program a try. Still the greatest 
functionality available in gvSIG is only documented in Spanish. If you 
drag someone to view gvSIG in action this poses a serious marketing 
problem.

-- 
Cheers Simon

    Simon Cropper - Open Content Creator

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