Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been having a telephone and email exchange with one of the co-founders of Groundspeak, Bryan Roth, regarding the launch of opencaching.com. I can’t expect Groundspeak to come out and say bad things about Garmin, why would they, I did feel it was important to get some perspective from Groundspeak.
Here is what Roth wrote to me:
“Over the past 10 years, we have worked very hard to keep geocaching free, family friendly and open to everyone.
We fully intend to keep it that way. We believe that competition is healthy, and the Groundspeak Lackeys are more excited and motivated than ever to keep delivering the very best of geocaching on geocaching.com.”
This is about what we would expect Groundspeak to say. It is interesting that both Garmin and Groundspeak highlight the free nature of geocaching in their statements.
Garmin had this to say in their press release:
At OpenCaching.com, everyone can enjoy all of the caches and helpful information – the tips, descriptions, previous attempts, mass downloads, etc. – for free.
I do believe that Groundspeak offers a different product than what you find at opencaching.com. They may be similar but they aren’t the same. Ultimately it will be geocachers that decide which site they prefer.
teamvoyagr
I have been writing the cachemania blog since 2008. I'm interested in the development of geocaching and the many ways that people play the game.
Follow Me:
2 Comments until now
Hmm, is it free, when you must pay for basic(!) database functions like queries? Is it free, when the queries you pay for are limited? Is it free, when you must pay for GPX files? Is it free, when you must pay for simple filters in the cache map?
I think, geocaching.com is not free. The free part of GC, the basic membership, is not more than a trial membership. The free traditional geocaching that Jeremy Irish once promised is no longer there…
Schrottie’s post is absurd. I know goeocachers who have been participating in the sport for 4 -5 years and who have thousands of finds who never paid a dime. If that is a “trial membership” then their trial has lasted a very long time. So you pay nominal fee for enhanced features, big deal
Groundspeak is not a multi billion dollar corporation that can afford the servers and developers necessary to run such a site and simply write it off as overhead. Somebody has to pay for that stuff and I assure you that Jeremy and company do not have the means to to do so out of their own pockets.
They are simply geocachers who are trying to run a geocaching site and judging from the site’s success, doing a darn good job of it. Apparently they were TOO successful and Garmin’s corporate bean counters saw an opportunity to rake in more money. That is precisely why Garmin is trying to get their filthy big money corporate hands on the game and if anybody thinks differently I have a bridge to sell them.
The use of Geocaching.com to find geocaches is free and will always be as promised by Jeremy. Will Min Kao make that same pledge? Doubt it. I wonder how many how many caches Mr. Kao has placed and how many finds he has. I’m willing to bet none. Geocaching to him is an odd little game that made his company millions. That is all he knows and cares to know about Geocaching.
I’ve met Jeremy at several Geowoodstocks and had an extended conversation with him at one. I also ran into him at several other events as well. Jeremy is a geocacher. You might even run into him on the trail if you live in the area. Will we see Mr Kao at Geowoodstock or other events, or ever run into him at a cache? I don’t think so because the only thing he wants to know about geocaching is how much money it can make him. Go ahead and put the sport in his hands. You will regret it, I assure you.
Add your Comment!