Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero-c!Aero.org!plonski
From: plonski@Aero.org (Mike Plonski)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.idl-pvwave
Subject: Re: Relationship between IDL and PVWAVE
Message-ID: <1991May3.032845.24972@aero.org>
Date: 3 May 91 03:28:45 GMT
References: <12802@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Sender: news@aero.org
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation
Lines: 59


In article <12802@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>, william@kaula.keck.hawaii.edu (William Lupton) writes:
|> Can someone please explain the past, present and future relationship between
|> IDL (and Research Systems Inc) and PVWAVE (and Precision Visuals)? I had sort
|> of assumed that RSI had sold it to PVI but now I read that RSI are releasing a
|> new Motif / Open Look product called IDLwidgets. Is this the same as the PVWAVE
|> point and click product? Are both products continuing to be developed
|> separately? Or are they in fact continuing to be developed together?
|> 
|> 		William Lupton (wlupton@keck.hawaii.edu)

-- 

According to the latest IDL NEWSLETTER - SPRING 1991, IDL terminated
their licensing agreement with PV-Wave as of Sept. 1990 and the
products are now free to diverge.  It would have been nice if IDL has
announced this a little sooner as one of my colleagues just purchased
PV-Wave under the assumption that PV-Wave was going to remain
compatable with IDL (which is what I use).

I have played BRIEFLY with the command language version of PV-wave and
the Point & Click version.  I didn't like the Point & Click version at
all.  I had two other non-IDL users (1 with extensive SUNVIEW/X11
coding experience and one new to a SUN workstation and windowed
environemt) also try the Point & Click version.  Neither of them liked
it as it simply takes too many mouse clicks to get anything done.  It
reminds me of why I dislike Macs, though, those users who prefer 10
mouse clicks to typing a single command might like it.  As for
the command language version of PV-Wave, it seemed identical to IDL
and I don't know if it is worth the extra money.  My colleague bought
it because PV-Wave had a GSA purchase number, while IDL did not.  If
you have dealt with government purchasing then you would understand
his decision.  As for IDL's new widgets, I ASSUME that these are 
equivalent to the Wave-Widgets, though I have not had any time to play
with these yet.

As for the future, who knows how the products will diverge.  I plan to
stay with IDL because I deal with several other groups that use IDL
and only one person who uses PV-Wave.  In IDL's newletter, they also
indicate that they are working on a DOS version of IDL and a network
floating license.  IDL Ver 2.1 also has a Statistics Package and some
mapping and gridding routines also with a simple coastline database.
They also ask in the newsletter if people would be interested in being
able to use the NCAR coastline database at extra cost.  I would
personally find this database very usefull and the more people that
indicate this to IDL, the more likely that IDL will support it.
Therefore, everyone should immediately send IDL mail
(idl@boulder.colorado.edu) telling them that they want the NCAR
database.

Note that these opinions are based on only a brief evaluation of
PV-Wave.  All standard disclaimers apply.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.   . .__.			       The opinions expressed herein are soley
|\./| !__!	 Michael Plonski       those of the author and do not represent
|   | |		"plonski@aero.org"     those of The Aerospace Corporation.
_______________________________________________________________________________