OS wars:
 
         DOS/Win 3.x  - Its dead, Bill-I-am-master-of-the-universe-Gates
has killed it.  (Besides it won't handle over 64Mb of RAM any way -
Don't believe me?  Go ahead and try it)
 
        OS/2 - stabile, once you get it loaded, but its destined to die an
undeserved death since no one is writing software specficially for
this OS.
 
        UNIX/AIX/LINUX/Etc. - Give us a break.
 
        Win 95 - A toy for the masses, and not really 32-bit.
 
        Windows NT - ?  Is this what we're left with?  Its far more stabile
than Win 95, and is designed to handle networking issue much better.
It'll be around for awhile yet.  But inherent in its stability is its
limitations on software control of hardware (that's why gamers don't
like it), but due to the massive quantities of data, data
transmission rates, and our hopes of 'live' image capture, the
typical solution has been to by pass the OS and have the software
directly handle the hardware (i.e. capture card) and memory
transfers in order to save the time wasted in OS overhead.  What
does this mean interms of Windows NT and PCI capture systems?
 
        I am looking for any KNOWN information on hardware interface
problems with Windows NT and 'image' capture hardware.  Alternately,
or additionally, we would (I know I'm not alone) love to hear from
digital imaging vendors to find out where the OS wars are heading to
for microscopy needs.
 
Richard E. Edelmann
Electron Microscopy Facility Supervisor
352 Pearson Hall
Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056
Ph: 513-529-5712        Fax: 513-529-4243
E-mail: [log in to unmask]