While the Windows environment does offer some creature comforts, I shudder
to think of the confining long range impacts that "closed-box" operating
systems (i.e. Windows NT, 95/98/...) will have on scientific
instrumentation hardware and software where there are "no user-serviceable
parts inside".
The current use of Unix platforms (Sun/SGI) is a breath of fresh air after
the age of the proprietary NMR host computer systems of a few years ago:
remember the Aspect 2000, the Nicolet 1180, the apatosaurus, and the dodo?
Currently there is a raging discussion among electronics system designers
of the merits of "linux", (a free, public-domain unix for PC's and many
other hardware platforms), vs. Windows-NT.
I would urge the NMR community (end users, as well as the designers at
Bruker, Tecmag, Varian, et al.) to carefully consider some the comments
and analyses that are being made in the Linux vs Windows NT debate. These
can be read at the following web site:
http://www.isdmag.com/edawars/
--Mike
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Michael Strain strain@mango.uoregon.edu
Institute of Molecular Biology desk/voice-mail: 541-346-4605
& Department of Chemistry FAX: 541-346-5891
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
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