Subject: SOFTWARE RIP-OFFS!
From: Sean David Moore, smoore at mail.sas.upenn.edu
Date: 28 Jul 1994 15:16:08 GMT
In article <318i3o$dpv at netnews.upenn.edu> Sean David Moore,
smoore at mail.sas.upenn.edu writes:
>>Here's a question....:
...........SNIP...........
Well Sean you've certainly started something here. I just want to
add my two bits worth and not miss out on the fun.
The main gripe I have with much of this software is not the cost,
but what that buys. I don't want to shell out for a CD and updates
of the sequence databases which are out of date before they ship and
will never keep up with that available on internet anyhow, we're
back to the old question of how much should be charged for a CD
which costs pence(UK) to press and contains data I can get from
other sources.
As for the actual software, much of it we can do in-house here
(lucky I guess) but some of it is really much more user friendly
than mainframe based stuff - especially those for the Mac.
So in summary, we would buy if the price was more like L3-500 and
less like L1200 and if we could pick and choose the modules we
wanted. We have the advantage of being funded centrally and so have
access to mainframes with software (Staden and others) databases
(EMBL etc.) and internet access for latest data and so PC software
at large prices with bundled CD databases is not really fulfilling
any of our needs and at those prices will not EVER!
.
Tony P Hodge
Structural Studies Division
Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 2QH
UK
Phone (0223) 402260
Fax (0223) 213556
