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<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>Hello Suvrat,</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>It is not that winGrass is
experimental. It works as well as Grass on Linux.
There</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>are the new areas where Grass is growing
such as application to databases and</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>java libraries. The main core of Grass
works very well indeed.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>The real issue that I've found is the use of
the Cygwin Xfree window system.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>I purchased a $99 commercial X-Win system
over three years ago, never had</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>to replace it, and have not had some of the
problems reported by others.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>Get a stable version and stick with
it. The Grass community is both a resource</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>for questions, which should take care of
most of your needs, and there are</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>many experts who you can pay to get started
quickly if the need arises.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>The maintenance, bugs, breakdowns are
usually associated with hardware. Get</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>a >2.4 Pentium with 512 MB of ram and a
fast 80-200 GB hard drive and </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>you should have no problems.
</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>You will need to be more specific of your
needs for a more detailed reply.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003>John Huddleston</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=375152802-01102003></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> wingrass-admin@grass.itc.it
[mailto:wingrass-admin@grass.itc.it]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Suvrat
Kher<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 30, 2003 12:58 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
wingrass@grass.itc.it<BR><B>Subject:</B> [winGRASS] hidden cost of
GRASS<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi all-</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are a small NGO looking to use GIS for natural
resources applications. Since GRASS is "free" there have been some discussion on
using the software in place of other commercial packages. Our group is only used
to Windows and have no expertise in Linux etc. Our concern is that since
winGRASS is still a bit experimental there will be hidden costs in terms of
seeking expert help in case of maintanence problems, bugs, breakdown etc., and
resulting lost productivity. Is there any study or assessement done that
addresses these issues in terms of quantifying these cost?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>thanks for your help</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Suvrat</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>