In article <CMM.0.90.2.710263441.kristoff at genbank.bio.net> kristoff at GENBANK.BIO.NET (Dave Kristofferson) writes:
Given the resources that NCBI has for research, it would also be
unlikely that the small commercial concerns would be able to compete
on the basis of new algorithm development. A possible compromise, in
my opinion, would be for NCBI to continue its database production and
algorithm research roles, but to stay out of the user interface
business. They might, of course, outline standards for database
access interfaces, but general toolkit development seems to me, at
least, to be overreaching their mandate.
this is goofy.
you should be in just as good a position as all the other companies
that sell government funded software.
in particular, take a look at berkeley unix (the original basis of sun
microsystems), tcp/ip (the basis of the internet), or mach (what osf
will be distributing) or any of the circuit simulation packages based
on spice (legion) or cmu common lisp (currently one of the best common
lisps available on the sun). all of these either have been or could
now be sold by private companies. just because the original
development was done with government money does not mean that it will
negatively impact a private companies bottom line. in fact, if the
work is well done and sets a new standard, the effect is generally the
opposite because of market priming.
letting ncbi develop software of any sort will just _help_
intelligenetics business.
