Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 09:49:10 -1000 (HST) From: "Hubert T. Yamada" <yamada@ifa.hawaii.edu> To: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Who writes the esoteric scientific Unix apps? Message-ID: <20011219092731.A39663-100000@shark.ifa.hawaii.edu> In-Reply-To: <20011219162249.A57982@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, j mckitrick wrote: > The reason I ask this question is because this is the field I'm in. > I develop data acquisition/analysis software, and it's loads of fun. > But this seems to be an area where there is very little commercial > support in Unix, at leas that I am aware of. This is a really tough field to make a profit in. A lot of that sort of work tends to be really specialized, so it generally has to be developed in house. The software is often paid for by grants, in which case it is given away for free. If not, and it has to make a profit, then the market is so small that the cost is generally prohibitive. Probably the best way to make a profit here is in developing the tools to make tools. > Much of what we sell is used by universities and other educational and > research institutions. Since they are so cost conscious, I would > imagine that having the stability of Unix and near zero cost would be a > good thing for them. Indeed. Also the flexibility of unix and the relative simplicity of the command line, shell script, and pipe models is a benefit. > However, the desktop standard, as we know all too > well, is not propitious for such an avenue. Add to that the fact that > even PhD's expect to be able to click a button to do everything these > days, and it makes things even more difficult. That depends on what field you're talking about. I know a lot of PhD's who don't expect anything to be point and click. > I would think running > somewhat open applications on an open OS would be a field ripe for the > taking. But then again, what do I know about business and marketing? > ;-) One thing that you're competing with is that the universities have a huge amount of cheap but very skilled labor. In astronomy, graduate students are paid low wages and work long hours in order to get a degree in a field in which job prospects are dismal. Tenured professors generally are paid for by the university, and they often tend to think of their own time as a free resource. I'm not trying to discourage you, because I would love to see more commercial applications here. I think that there is a way to make money here, but it would have to be very carefully considered. Hubert -- Hubert Yamada, University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy phone: (808)956-6648 e-mail: yamada@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu OR yamada@hawaii.edu WWW: http://ccd.ifa.hawaii.edu/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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