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From: jkramer@molbio.med.miami.edu (Jack Kramer)
Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.genbank
Subject: Re: A question for FTP users
Message-ID: <1991Jan21.140339.15571@news.miami.edu>
Date: 21 Jan 91 14:03:39 GMT
References: <9101191404.AA18024@genbank.bio.net>
Sender: news@news.miami.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: U of Miami Molecular Biology Computing
Lines: 22

In article <9101191404.AA18024@genbank.bio.net> BROE@AARDVARK.UCS.UOKNOR.EDU (Bruce Roe) writes:
>
>go through alot of work to convert the databases from GenBank to
>GCG format before we can use them and it would be nice if we could
>just ftp the database in a format which we don't have to fool with
>before using.
>
>At present we (GCG sites) either have to pay $1600 for the tapes
>from GCG or download the databases from GenBank and convert them
>ourselves to GCG format.  This is money and time we could spend on
>other, more productive work.  Is there a site we can ftp the databases
>in GCG format out there?  If not, why not?
>

My correspondence with major vendors over the past few years on the
ftp availability of proprietary formatted versions of the government
provided seqnence databases would fill a small book.  After lots of
haggling over all the details it seems to all boil down to the fact
that the databases will never be available for "free" as long as these
commercial vendors can make additional profit by reformatting and
distributing the databases.  I have never seen any argument which
"yet" justifies the reformatting other than the profit motive.