[sdpd] Re: Scientific Computing World

[alb...@cristal.org]

Kurt wrote:

> I would say... good?  Or maybe bad.  I don't really know, 
>I only use free software anyway.

This means that you do not practice the first SDPD step :
identification. There is no free software to do that.
About this, people having bought the Crystallographica
search-match program could tell about it : efficiency ?
Easy to use ? Cost (seems that this depends on the client
head) ? Comparison with other search-match software ? Etc.

The question why industry prefers commercial software to
freeware is well known :
  - support is obtained
  - more user friendly programs
  - etc
All these reasons allow for recruiting non-expert people,
hence the need for expert-systems. But my point is that 
we are still far from an SDPD expert system. I will probably
retire before to see the SDPD press-button, if any. SDPD 
expert-systems are all human beings, up to now, most of 
them using freeware, when possible.

Armel



 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/