From: "Duane" <macastronomer@mac.com>

Date: November 19, 2007 11:15:45 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Imaging Source Abandoning FireWire?


I don't really consider the Apple Xerox exchange a sin. According to the Xerox guy who 

showed it to Steve and Woz, he let them have the idea. Xerox had no intention of ever 

doing anything with it. There were certain people at Xerox who actually thought it would 

hurt their paper based market.


Apple took it from there. That's no more a sin than the fact that Gates paid 50k to some 

unsuspecting dope so he could call it MS DOS and license it to IBM. At the time, IBM was 

copying Apple, but ever since, it's been MS.


Do you sell a different version of Astro IIDC for microscopy? At work we primarily use Zeiss 

driven cameras and software for light microscopy but I'm wondering what advantage Astro 

IIDC could offer. Our electron microscopy is pretty specialized (Gatan and AMT).


I'll be watching for ver 4. I for one know that you'll drudge through it and come out with 

an excellent upgrade. You have some competition out there but it doesn't come close. 

Astro IIDC makes it fun—now if only my sky would make it as fun.


Do you think it would be possible to have Astro IIDC judge shape while it judges 

sharpness? Sometimes there are very sharp images but the shape is distorted enough that 

stacking causes problems. Size is another issue. Sometimes the image bows (or bubbles) 

out and sometimes it does the opposite—making the disk change size. These things all 

together affect the stacked image. I may not explain that well, but you've done it enough, 

I'm sure you know what I mean. If these could be fixed (unbowed/resized) or tossed out, 

my sky wouldn't have to be quite so perfect to glean a good shot.


Sorry, long post—cloudy night.


Duane


--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@...> wrote:


Hi Duane;


On 19-Nov-07, at 12:23 AM, Duane wrote:


I for one appreciate solid software, and respect those of you who  

code (because I can't

stand it). There are different perspectives here though.


ASTRO IIDC doesn't have much for competition and Milton doesn't  

have to worry about his

program being spied and copied.


Yes I do worry about that. That's why I have the unlock code system  

for starters.


As to competition, you only get competition if there a market. There  

isn't much and the bulk of my sales are for Microscopy. And given how  

Apple keeps making everything more and more difficult for  

developers,  it's just a question of time for the marginal non main  

stream apps to disappear, like the geoscience are for the Mac.


Apple has Microsoft breathing down it's back and

copying everything they possibly can. We're also talking about a  

whole OS here that has to

be compatible with "everything". There are going to be issues.


Umm - Apple has stolen a lot of ideas from Micro Soft too. We could  

go back to the "Original Sin" where Steve did steal the mouse/ GUI  

interface from Xerox.


As to issues, Apple should never have shipped Leopard the way it is,  

It's not even late stage beta. They got forced to because they spent  

a good chunk of this dev cycle on iPhone/iPod dev. So they short  

changed us developers and said "too bad" - let them figure it out  

with no documentation and no help. Tons of stuff has been dumped with  

no warning and no replacement APIs - your just screwed and left to  

find your own work arounds.


Anybody installing Leopard (or any other OS X upgrade) should do an  

archive install if you

want a smooth running system without the hassle of re-installing  

everything. I would

never do an upgrade any other way. I've done a couple dozen Leopard  

installs without any

issues—all archive installs.


What I've heard i the best way to be successful with Leopard  is wipe  

and clean instal. And that's normally what I do because Apple does  

get it wrong - just like every other company does. But it depends on  

what software you have installed.


Now that Leopard is out, Apple should be helping their developers  

get their apps up and

running on it. It's in everybody's best interest.


No - Apple should have let developers test software before they  

shipped the GM version. Many developers got whacked with Leopard and  

had their code working fine in all the alphas and betas, right up  

until the final release.


And they are offering no help. Developers ask questions on the  

various FireWire/ UBS and QT Apple Lists and get no response.


PS. Will version 4 be a paid upgrade? If so, how much will the full  

price be compared to the

upgrade?


Paid upgrade. Price has not been determined yet. I've sunk about 12  

months development (24 months time wise) time into it so far and have  

a lot more testing to do, so I don't expect a release until 1st  

quarter 2008. Prices will be going up soon as the fall of the US  

dollar and rise of the Canadian dollar have cut my meager earnings by  

40% over the last 18 months.


TTYL..


Milton J. Aupperle

President

ASC - Aupperle Services and Contracting

Mac Software (Drivers, Components and Application) Specialist

#1005 - 815 14th Avenue. S.W.

Calgary Alberta T2R0N5

1-(403)-229-9456

milton@...

www.outcastsoft.com

Proud Supporter of the "Party of Alberta"

http://www.partyofalberta.org/

Proud Supporter of the "Wild Rose Party"

http://www.wildroseparty.ca/