Ten OS GIS Predictions

OSGeo will be a synergetic force, fostering new cooperation and collaboration between projects.
OSGeo will struggle with being “all things to all people” but will settle into its niche by year-end.
Quantum GIS will release version 1.0, five years after its conception.
The FOSS4G 2007 conference in Victoria will be the biggest ever, bringing together all facets of the OS GIS community. Commercial GIS vendors will be lurking about the conference floor in significant numbers.
The Big Commercial GIS vendors will continue to take notice of OS GIS although by year-end its likely they “still won’t get it”.
A “killer” web mapping interface will be developed and cause a mini-revolution across the geospatial web space.
An odd alliance will develop between an OS GIS project and a big commercial GIS vendor.
Paul Ramsey will finally throw up his hands and implement raster support in PostGIS.
GRASS GUI debate/discussion/development will heat up again, the result being a new improved interface.
I will be exposed as a charlatan and unable to predict anything in the future.

转载自3Snews,某某人对GIS行业的十个预测。有几条读起来比较搞笑。不过我到不相信QGIS真能发布1.0，毕竟还有很多路要走。现在还是0.8,不过我很希望QGIS能结合GRASS，并作为他的GUI而发布，这时才是真正的1.0版本，（不过说实话，现在QGIS+GRASS是不的实验项目，毕竟他说明there is a An Idea leading the Guantum’s way.）

FOSS4G in Victoria? 不错不错，and a huge amount of commercial GIS Vendors. 不过我真希望FOSS4G someday will be held in Beijing. 按照中科院陈荣国老师的话，等我们有了足够多的开源项目，这个时候，也是我们要将它展示给世界的时候。（简要介绍下FOSS4G的办会思路，每年都要还一个大洲，美洲、欧洲、大洋洲、亚洲，按照规律，下一届应该是在亚洲举办，但是国内的开源项目实在是太少了。不过最近OSGeo中国中心在推广和地理信息科学与技术有关的开源项目方面做了很多工作，希望它能一路走好。）

A “killer” web mapping interface？perhaps i do not believe in it.中国的政府官员还是不太信任开源的力量。在很多国人看来，开源就是免费，而免费就意味着不完善，不稳定。这些官员更愿意去尝试ArcIMS，而不是去寻找MapServer或者GeoServer的帮助。

Alliance between OS Projects and a big commercial GIS Vendor 已经不是需要憧憬的事情，Autodesk和OSGeo的合作已经是现实的事情了。当然有人说Autodesk不能算是十分的Geospatial，但是确实Autodesk再有和ESRI分庭抗礼的意思。

And finally comes my dear Paul Ramsey, 这个来自加拿大的Blond Hair Gentleman, 他的文章总是给人思考，而且孜孜不倦地在网络上帮助他人。如果PostGIS支持Raster，那是再好不过地。

Author终于承认自己是个charlatan了，连我也不得不这样觉得。不过即使是是在bragging about，但是我也希望这些可以实现的，Let OpenSource GIS change our Earth.