User:Duncan/Notes/upfrontezine
Here's my answers to Ralph Grabowsi, if you feel they are misleading or something is missing just add it to this thread, I'll send him the link. He's been reading this thread so he's got an idea of who we are.
_What position do you see OSARCH having in the architectural design world -- supporting role, minor player, major actor?_ OSArch (Open Source in Architecture) is about bringing a more ethical approach to the software we use in architecture, engineering, construction and operations. We support moving the industry toward more openness and more collaboration. At our core we support and encourage projects bringing professionals together to develop the software tools we need to do our job well. This means developing and supporting software developed as OpenSource and/or free/libre (FLOSS) and the use of open standards such as those developed by buildingSmart, the W3C and several others.
Where this will all go is hard to know, but we're not a corporation reliant on backers or income. Maybe we'll end up with huge influence and a generous budget to support and coordinate projects that challenge the status quoeo . Maybe not. What's clear is that the ideas we represent are not going away. More and more the most tech savvy people in AECO know and rely on FOSS to do their jobs and to develop in-house solutions. My own knowledge is about what happens in architectural offices. There you can see growing use and support for FOSS solutions like Speckle to fix the industries interoperability problem. In environment simulation Ladybug Tools and their Pollination platform sees increasing support pulling many tools together. Those are just two super stars of a movement in AECO. Our directory has well over 100 projects covering everything from computational Fluid Dynamics (OpenFOAM), Structural Analysis (CODE_ASTER) to presentation and document editing and authoring (Scribus & Inkscape).
_At what point are major software pieces, such as LibreCAD, CodeAster, and LibreDWG?_ Some projects are very mature and stable and some projects are in rapid bleeding edge development. QCAD is a quite capable 2D CAD package and uses a commercial model where buying a professional version add some functionality such as DWG support and helps the development of the community edition.
How is OSARCH funded?
Where does the programming prowess come from?
