Re: [sdpd] The (small) budget makes the law

[cockcroft...@gordon.cryst.bbk.ac.uk]

I would also like to add some comments about setup time. For a beginner,
the time to read the manual will surely take longer than 10 minutes (whether
it be a paper one or a modern electronic web-based one with bells & whistles).
Also it can actually take a new user longer to use a GUI system if they
are not familiar with it since the order of doing things is usually less
obvious on a Windows-based system with lots of pull-down menus.

As other examples, consider how long it takes to learn how to use commercial 
programs such as Word or CorelDraw to good effect (both are easily used 
badly IMHO). The learning curve is actually very steep (and this is from
personal experience and from watching new students), so the time factor
will be long.

Another comment is that the space group seems to be something that one can
simply deduce from powder data - I would say it is not, especially for
non-molecular systems with extended lattices. (Yes, I do know that 1/3 of
organics have space group P2(1)/c, but what about those that don't?)

Just my 2p's worth of comments :-) 

Jeremy Karl Cockcroft


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