Esri uses GDAL? Google uses Goo-dal? Salesforce uses GDAL? Oh well in that case, sign me up. You had me at Sergey Brin. That and I image Jack carrying around a copy of GDAL on a thumb drive on his keychain.
I originally had a different newsletter I planned to roll out this week, but who uses GDAL has really
gotten started again on Twitter. I really think the days of GIS being on that island are over and the amazement that people there than our little clique are using GDAL or PostGIS or Turf or maps shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. What I’d love to hear more about is why you are doing what you are doing. In technology, the how something is done is always so much easier than why something is done. From Steve Jobs, to Bill Gates, to Elon Musk, the why mattered more than the how. They all looked at execution differently of course, but damn the why is what separated them.
Heck, look at Jack Dangermond and Esri. They have their how and of course that is interesting, but you can’t go to an Esri event and not see the why. Disagree with the philosophy all you want, the why is what makes them special. Esri uses GDAL? Meh, but tell me why. I’m listening.