[GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post

[Hamish]

"M S" <mseibel gmail.com> wrote:
> the robustness (reliability) you seek is there, as well as the
> advantages. But first the system (Linux & GRASS) must be running
> correctly for that attribute to be applicable.  I have to use ESRI
> software (due to situational circumstances), that is $14K USD retail
> last i was told (that price doesnt include the raster analysis
> module).  I have been using it for over 10 years, and lived through
> the abandonment of the UNIX world command line (around 2000), and
> software re-write to windows @rcMap, which in my opinion is the
> antonym of robust; so much to the point that i use the command line
> workstation version to come as close to robustness as i can in a
> windows environment for data creation and modification.  @rcMap is the
> reason I sought out other GIS software, and I couldnt be more pleased
> to have entered the world of GRASS and experience GIS the way it was
> meant to be.


Entertaining experiment I read about recently in an interview with
ESRI's CEO: (comment by the author, not CEO!)

Go to ESRI's website and try the "driving directions to HQ" link.
(ArcMap+ArcIMS)

Then go to google maps (build in part with familiar Open Source tools)
and try with the same address.

Apparently Google's map is many many times nicer. I never got to compare
though as the ESRI map was forever stalled and never loaded. I have had
a similarly poor (mostly just very very slow) experience with *every
single* ArcIMS server I have ever used.

People still don't trust MapServer but will pay many thousands of
dollars for a branded product that hardly works.. sigh.



Another thought experiment: how many hours (years) of Linux tech support
can you buy from a local computer science undergraduate student with the
funds it takes to buy a single software license of a commercial GIS?
What else could you use that money for? How many student scholarships?


Hamish

ps - (repeated) if you don't know linux, try the mac version