Today sees the creation of the MapServer Foundation a group to support the ongoing development of the Minnesota MapServer project with the backing on Autodesk and DM Solutions.
This seems to be the first time one of the “big” traditional GIS vendors has jumped onboard with Open-source, the replacement for Autodesk’s MapGuide will be “MapServer Enterprise”.
This would appear to be a completely different development to the current MapServer but may one day share some components – little more than a naming exercise then? – I hope not as Autodesk have developed connections to things like Oracle Spatial and SQLServer.
The open-source version of MapServer we know today will become MapServer Cheetah (sounds almost like an apple operating system !)
So what does this mean? Only time will tell of course, this will give Autodesk a much needed boost, MapGuide was beginning to look a bit jaded, but it will also secure the development of the open-source MapServer despite no doubt some of the criticism that will come from the open source fundamentalists.
My biggest wish-list item for my old friends at Autodesk is official OGC WMS support – its has been there as part of MapServer is the past but never certified I’m sure this will soon come.