wick at NETCOM.COM (Potter Wickware) writes:
> You must mean me, Dave -- one of my jobs is with Hitachi Software,
>maker of MacDNASIS. Quite apart from my duties there I've used four
>of the big commercial programs (MacVector, Geneworks, MacDNASIS, GCG) in
>my own research -- they all have their points. GCG is strong for jobs
>like structural predictions and multi-alignments that make use of the
>power computing potential of the UNIX platform. It's weak, as I have
>said, in its accessibility to the occasional user, and the graphics output
>is for the birds.
> I didn't and don't think the context of this discussion required
>me to identify myself as a Hitachian. A week or so ago someone said she
>was thinking about buying Geneworks and asked for opinion and advice; in
>my reply then I did so identify myself.
> But don't get me started on Geneworks.
Potter,
I won't get you started on Geneworks, and we won't send out our
IntelliGenetics hit men on Hitachi products 8-). As a general rule I
think that it is by far the best policy if commercial people restrict
their comments to answering questions about their own software when
such questions are raised and refrain from making comments about the
competition in these forums. This is not a "law," but I think that it
is "good form." There are enough people from academia available to
bludgeon all of us as is 8-), e.g, my IQ has dropped about 50 points
from repeated blows to the head over the last six years.
Yes, I did mean you and thanks for publically confirming this. I
think that it is critical when people are discussing software that the
readers know the source of the opinions, and whether the person doing
the posting is of the utmost integrity is besides the point.
All types/brands of commercial biological software can be discussed in
this forum, but I stress again that those with a commercial
connection/interest have an ethical obligation to disclose this in any
posting that can influence the opinion of someone regarding either
your own or a competitor's software. Many people read the net
sporadically, and the fact that one may have posted one's affiliation
previously is no guarantee that it will be known to readers of only
the later postings. This is true not only for people who work
directly at commercial companies but also for academics who may have
consulting or other financial connections to commercial concerns.
Sincerely,
Dave "why am I always such a pain?" Kristofferson
BIOSCI/bionet Manager
kristoff at net.bio.net
