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[NMLUG] NASA World Wind 1.3 released - only on W2K/XP platform!
Too expensive to develop for a GNU/Linux platform? A GNU/Linux port?
Last time I checked vi and Perl, HTML, XML are free, in addition there are
tens of other utilities (MathXML, PNG) available for free to anyone with
a computer and an internet connection. Just bring desire to learn.
You will have to excuse my sardonic tone but quite frankly I am not buying
the argument that developing with C# or DirectX is actually less
expensive or requires less effort. I hear this half-baked argument
all the time at the college I go to, from the people I refer to as
'Microsoft Majors'. They are students who are taught, no, indoctrinated
in the arts of utilizing proprietary software exclusively.
But when it comes time to actually do something ingenious they cant
wrap their minds around how a computer actually works on the inside.
There are plenty of books out there on how to do image processing
with Perl (lets not forget C and C++, if you arent fairly proficient in C
then quite frankly you do not belong in CompSci).
All are programming languages that are based on sound Computer Science.
Where have I earned the right to talk this kind of trash? I am 30+yo,
laid-off from Wall Street after five years, while there I had initiated
the use of Perl in my department. All done without, what some people
would call, the benefit of a College Degree. There is something called
motivational learning, drive. What happened to you guys at NASA since
your Apollo hey-days?
Despite the lefitst leanings of the majority of its users, GNU/Linux is
more American than any closed source peice of crap proprietary software
(or anything that masquerades as FreeSoftware, Java, C#, PHP, gimme a
break!)
Freedom of communication is the original intent of the First Amendment.
If there was ever a communistic style of doing business it is
proprietary software (closed society, nothing gets done unless the piper
is paid.)
Again, forgive my sardonic tone but I have seen too many so called
CompSci majors fall short of their abilities due to lowered expectations.
A few closing notes, this is in no way intended to dimish this great
service you guys are bringing to the public. Overall, as an American I am
proud of NASA and all you guys have accomplished.
Lastly, the sentiments expressed here are entirely my opinion.
Steve M
On Wed, 2 Mar 2005, Steve Browne wrote:
> NASA today announced the release of World Wind 1.3, the global aerial
> photograph program.
>
> "World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on
> Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar
> Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain
> in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there."
>
> http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
>
> In spite of being "open source", the initial release is only for
> Windows. In a forum, the key developer wrote (last September):
>
> "I'm the lead and (so far) only programmer behind the NASA World Wind
> project. I've mentioned elsewhere in the forum some of the reasons for
> using Microsoft based-technologies, but the basic reason is that given
> our extremely limited budget and resources for this educational
> software tool, using C# and Managed DirectX was the only way to get a
> deliverable out to the public in short order. We want a Linux and
> especially an OSX port for World Wind, and this will happen sooner
> rather than later. However, we are still trying to finalize certain
> features and functionality that are best done using our current
> development suite, but we want World Wind to be ported to other
> operating systems and we are actively seeking partnerships to
> accomplish this goal.
>
> Since this is open-source, we encourage any OSX programmers to start a
> port and we will try our best to provide whatever resources we can
> towards the effort. Right now our development staff consists of one
> programmer and one graphics designer, but we are an ambitious duo so
> we will do our very best to please everyone. (smile.gif)
>
> Chris Maxwell
> Lead Developer (World Wind)
> NASA Learning Technolgies"
>
> Do we have any Linux programmers here who might like to devote time to
> a Linux port? If you are interested, contact
>
> Administrative Contact & Comments:
> Patrick Hogan
> E-mail Patrick.Hogan@nasa.gov
> Phone 1(650) 604-5656
>
> I don't know if NASA can hire anyone on an outsource basis, even pro
> bono, but it would be interesting to find out.
> Stephen B. Browne
> sbrowne@ix.netcom.com
> "Ubi bene, ibi patria."
>
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> NMLUG mailing list
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> http://www.nmlug.org/mailman/listinfo/nmlug
>
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