I'm new to GIS, having only dabbled with ArcGIS for Desktop for about 4 weeks in 2007. The business I am at wants to target writing complete solutions that involve GIS as it would benefit their hardware sales. They do not know which market they want to target but want me to pick the GIS software to use, yet I am very green to GIS markets. All i know if target platforms are windows, windows mobile, android and web applications. The idea of mobile applications means data connection is not 100% so internet based services may need to be ruled out, i.e. GoogleMaps.
I was struggling to work out how to phrase this as a question, given the huge range of GIS products available, Esri's ArcGIS for Desktop, CadCorp, MapInfo, GoogleMap/Earth, qGIS, Manifold, openJump, openstreetmap etc.
To avoid the what do I buy question, I instead ask the question why do you use Esri ArcGIS. From my experience its slow to navigate around maps and quite verbose to program in causing quite a lead time in development. Esri is also the most expensive product on the market, and i believe also the most popular. But why do people continue to use it, when other systems like CadCorp have the same functionality if not more, seem to be more responsive, can import Esri data and cost less.
I feel that I must be overlooking something here. I know client demands in some industries like defense, want Esri but why is it still so popular, given I often hear how other products are betters (Is this a Windows vs. Mac example on market share vs. quality)
P.s. This question has been spawned from this one on StackOverflow.
Best Answer
First of all, easy to use. I have been using ArcGIS for almost 7 years now and I can tell you that people love it's simplicity and how to build simple maps and analysis.
I have been tracking and also using QGIS for almost 3 years now and as other have pointed, QGIS is getting closer on funcionality, but still "ESRI" is printed on peoples mind.
ArcGIS has a solid documentation, large use base and support for old products that most of other companies cannot provide. They have been investing in new technologies and spread of new concepts (which may be something or not - check out GeoDesign).
QGIS is a very strong candidate for a replacement of ArcGIS. There is one specific project, for a municipality here in Brazil (a large north capital) where we were able to stick with QGIS and they seem to be very happy with it. Customizing it is another point, but it doesn't seem hard - everyone just need to "get used to it".
One point in favor of ESRIs tool is its native cartographic output which is still the best, and looks like it will be for some years.
EDIT explaining the native cartographic output comment: Well, most of GIS softwares nowdays can export to a different format, such as PDF and SVG, to be edited outside the boundaries of GIS scope.
I've heard that many many people uses FOSS GIS software to generate the basic layouts of their maps, and then change to something like Inkscape and refine the look and feel of that map.
Natively, ArcGIS has the best cartographic control and output of all. It has extensive labelling features, symbol creation, it's has many features of a vector graphics software.
Thats what I meant as native cartographic output :D