this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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I mean I can't say it has had an impact on ESRI, but I for one have been boycotting ESRI and their products for over 10 years. I've moved entire teams and departments away, and was only able to do so through a combination of QGIS/ R/ Python. There are still some gaps to fill, but because geospatial is such a smaller world to begin with (than photoshop), I feel like QGIS maybe has had more of a "percentage" impact at breaking through on ESRI than GIMP has to photoshop.
My first job out of high school was doing GIS mapping for the National Wetlands Survey with a stereo scope, high altitude infrared, and topo overlays. I was comparing old data to new observations and manually drawing the identified bodies of water onto mylar over the topo. After that, I'd write the labels and lines on a second mylar overlay.
All of this was then given to a digital mapping team that plotted everything a using specialized mouse. That was 25 years ago, give or take.
The GIS software was so insanely expensive back then. To see something of this caliber for free is impressive.
Was it MapInfo?
I cannot recall. Sorry.