>Date:         Fri, 9 Apr 1999 22:32:57 GMT
>Reply-To:     ingrid northwood <[log in to unmask]>
>From:         ingrid northwood <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      NIH image
>To:           [log in to unmask]
>
>Dear Group
>
>A follow-up question to my last one.  In peoples experience, how easy is
>NIH image to use.  Is it a steeper learning curve than image aquisition
>and analysis programs from manufacturers.  If money wasn't a factor, would
>you still use NIH image?
>
>thanks,
>ingrid
>
Ingrid,

Money is not the issue.

In a research environment, the major factors for NIH-Image spring from its
public domain character.
The system is easy to use and logically consistent as it is primarily
developed by one person (Wayne Rasband).
Over a number of years, it has attracted constant contributions and updates
as a result of its active maillist.
The macro facilities make effective tailored computer assistance a reality
for many researchers.
Freely available source code (unheard of in the commercial domain) make it
open ended with many specialised spinoff programs available.

While the current version is not being extended by Wayne as he is putting
his development effort into ImageJ,
Object-Image, an extention of NIH-Image by Norbert Vischer, is
available via http://simon.bio.uva.nl/object-image.html and has many
additional features while remaining 100% upward compatible. I would
recommend this for any reseacher wishing to do productive image processing
but not wishing to be involved in the ongoing development of ImageJ.
Greg Joss,
School of Biological Sciences, Phone:(61)(2) 9850 8212 Fax: 9850 8174
Macquarie University,          Email [log in to unmask]
North Ryde, (Sydney,) NSW 2109, Australia