Will the survey results be published somewhere? cheers, mark -- On 24 September 2014 20:12, Brian Gerkey wrote: > To add OSRF's perspective directly: > > Indeed, we coordinated with Clearpath on this survey, with the > motivation to figure out what demand there is in the community for > paid support services. It's something that we've heard about > anecdotally over the years, but on which we don't yet have enough data > for somebody to make an informed business decision. If there enough > demand, we want companies (among them Clearpath) to offer those > support services to foster further ROS adoption, to provide a better > experience for users, and, ideally, to provide some amount of > financial support to OSRF for our core development efforts. > > We have no intention of changing OSRF into a service/support > organization; that's an incredibly useful role for a company to play, > but it's not what we do. We spend our time doing the core development > that makes ROS and Gazebo fundamentally better. But to do that, we of > course need to pay salaries. > > To date, we've been funded primarily by generous grants and contracts > from US government agencies. While we don't anticipate any near-term > change in that source of support, we are working to diversify our > funding portfolio. Part of our belief in creating OSRF was that, as > more companies come to rely on the tools that we create, we'll gain > financial support from industry. That is beginning to happen, as you > can see from the expanding list of OSRF sponsors: > http://www.osrfoundation.org/sponsors (and ROSCon sponsors: > http://roscon.ros.org/2014/sponsors/). The outlook is good, but we're > still looking for more and broader support; hence our interest in > exploring the possibility of paid support services. > > By the way, OSRF is a non-profit organization, granted tax-exempt > status by the US government as a public charity (under IRS code > 501(c)(3)). We gratefully accept donations, from individuals and > organizations. If you'd like to directly support our work, please > donate today: > > https://events.osrfoundation.org/ > > brian. > > > > On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 5:58 AM, Ryan Gariepy > wrote: > > Hi Daniele, all, > > > > In short, Clearpath shares your feelings and goals, and I believe the > OSRF > > does as well. > > > > In long: > > > > In our discussions with OSRF leading up to this survey, our primary > > consideration was maintaining and expanding the current ROS community and > > infrastructure much as it is today. The best way to do that is to plan > for > > years in advance and assume that the various grants and contracts which > > allowed the OSRF to start up in a sustainable way will at some point > stop. > > > > Thus, it follows that OSRF must find sources of revenue elsewhere, or > else > > become a contract software shop itself. Working on contracts is much > less in > > service of the OSRF's mission than begin able to work on fully > > community-directed projects. > > > > In discussions both at OSRF and Clearpath, we came to the conclusion that > > the majority of the major institutions and businesses which are receiving > > value from ROS will nonetheless be unable to simply donate to the OSRF. > > Therefore, we need to provide a way where funding the OSRF makes business > > sense. Support and other similar efforts are beneficial in particular > > because though support efforts may be for specific clients at first, the > > improved documentation, knowledge base, and bugfixes can benefit the > entire > > community. > > > > And, to address another question which will likely be going through a few > > people's minds: Clearpath is taking these first steps because we too > heavily > > rely on ROS, we understand the needs of the community, and we already > have > > the infrastructure to make this happen (since we already provide support > for > > hundreds of ROS users). Though we will no doubt make a profit on this > > endeavour, that is not our primary goal. Our own long term plans depend > on > > ROS & the ROS community continuing to grow in the way it already has, > > therefore we must do what we can to make this possible. > > > > Most importantly, if we go forward with offering services like this > > ourselves, we intend that a share of the profit goes to the OSRF to > directly > > support core development efforts. We believe we're the right team to > provide > > support to these large companies, but OSRF should continue to be the > nucleus > > of the ROS community. A general outline of that arrangement will be made > > available to the ROS community if and when we take those next steps. > > > > I hope this helps. > > > > -Ryan > > . > > > > On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 7:07 AM, Daniele Calisi < > daniele.calisi@gmail.com> > > wrote: > >> > >> Dear Ryan, > >> it is clear that Clearpath and OSRF wants to be paid in the near future, > >> for their knowledge about ROS. It's fine for me, all work should be paid > >> somehow. What is my concern, anyway, is that this would change the > goals of > >> ROS, that so far has been the first Open Source framework widely adopted > >> used in the world. > >> > >> On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 7:37 PM, Ryan Gariepy > >> wrote: > >>> > >>> Hello ROS users! > >>> > >>> Clearpath Robotics, an early adopter of ROS, is working with the Open > >>> Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) to determine how the worldwide ROS > >>> development community can best be supported. This may be via support > >>> services, resources, or tools offered by the OSRF or community > >>> members. Now is your opportunity to let us know what you need and how > >>> Clearpath and OSRF can work together to best support you. > >>> Please take a moment to complete this short survey: > >>> > >>> > >>> > http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/clearpathrobotics-B/ros-development-survey-final/ > >>> > >>> -- > >>> > >>> Ryan Gariepy | CTO | Clearpath Robotics, Inc. > >>> > >>> 1425 Strasburg Road, Unit 2A | Kitchener, Ontario | N2R 1H2 Canada > >>> T: +1 (800) 301-3863 x802 | F: +1 (888) 374-0091 | E: > >>> rgariepy@clearpathrobotics.com | W: www.clearpathrobotics.com > >>> > >>> Your Unmanned Experts TM > >>> > >>> This electronic communication (including any attachments) is > >>> CONFIDENTIAL AND LEGALLY PRIVILEGED. Any unauthorized use or > >>> disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended > >>> recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, > >>> conversion to hard copy, copying, circulation or other use of this > >>> message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. The recipient > >>> should check this email and any attachments for the presence of > >>> viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any > >>> virus transmitted by this email. Thank you. > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> ros-users mailing list > >>> ros-users@lists.ros.org > >>> http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Daniele "MadMage" Calisi > >> "Your limit is always a bit beyond" > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> ros-users mailing list > >> ros-users@lists.ros.org > >> http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > ros-users mailing list > > ros-users@lists.ros.org > > http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users > > > _______________________________________________ > ros-users mailing list > ros-users@lists.ros.org > http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users > -- "In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded."