Oh boy, I hope this is not the beginning of a flame war ... but I agree
with the opinions voiced by Keith Brown, Bill Gurley and Paul Graupner.
Xwin-nmr for Linux would be a terrific feature.
>From what I do know about NT, it is really not an option for us. I might
change my mind if stability improves so uptime is comparable to UNIX/Linux
systems. (Or maybe even a bit less, perhaps trying to match 13 months is overkill ...)
We are running a 24/7 operation. I am willing to come in after hours to
re-start a crashed UNIX/Linux box running a spectrometer. I don't think that I
really would want to do that with NT.
One big advantage of Linux is that the complete source code is available,
if there is a problem between xwin-nmr and the OS, Bruker should at least have
a chance to figure it out much more easily.
In terms of the economics, low cost for Linux software is common, but I have
seen some pretty high prices as well. Perhaps a slightly different strategy
might help?
I don't know what the current price is for a license to run xwin-nmr on a
workstation. For the sake of argument, let's assume that it is $2k (academic).
Would I buy one license running on one box? Maybe, maybe not.
However, I would spend $2k if I can run it on up to four Linux boxes. In
other words, the license cost is still 2k, but there is more of an incentive
in that it can run on more than one box. Net difference to Bruker: $2k.
There are probably better models, (and bigger numbers ...) this is just
a quick thought.
So, if a Linux version is really important to you, perhaps it might help to
let Bruker know that, and what, you are willing to pay for it. After all,
even porting existing code (never mind support for an additional OS)
does cost money.
Regards,
Rudi
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Rudi Nunlist Voice: (510) 642-6407 FAX: (510) 642-8369
University of California Email: nmrlab@purcell.cchem.berkeley.edu
College of Chemistry
NMR Facility
Berkeley, CA 94720-1460 Personal email: rnunlist@purcell.cchem.berkeley.edu
www.cchem.berkeley.edu/College/Facilities/nmr
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