At 04:07 PM 10/25/96 PST, you wrote:
>
>Between us, if freeware authors make some effort to see to it that their
>software is only used on licensed hardware we would all be very happy.
 
What on earth is "licenced hardware"?  I have a Zeiss LSM and am very
interested in software that will run our data stacks from the LSM as well
as any  data stacks that we acquire from our other optical and electron
microscopes.  Having been badly burned by Jandel's PC3D software (the
worst value for money that I have seen) I am very interested in code written
by others in our field.  If they choose to make it available to me, then I would
be very grateful.  After all most of us in the scientific community exchange
techniques constantly, without expecting to be paid.  We are, after all, public
servants and our work should be in the public domain.  To have that free
exchange potentially challenged by large corporate entities such as MD
is enough to put me off considering the purchase of their instruments.
_________________________________________________________________
Tom Gore,           Advanced Imaging Laboratory,             Biology Department
University of Victoria,         Box 3020,  Victoria,  B.C.
Canada  V8W 3N5
e-mail:   [log in to unmask]        vox:  (250) 721-7134          fax:  (250)
721-7120