[GRASSweb-list]markus: web/announces press_release500.html,NONE,1.1

Thu Sep 5 11:40:01 EDT 2002

Author: markus

Update of /grassrepository/web/announces
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press release 5.0.0 added

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  <title>First Stable Release - GRASS 5 Free Geographic Information System 5. September 2002</title>
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<pre>PRESS RELEASE</pre>
<pre>5. September 2002</pre>
<pre>GRASS Development Team</pre>
<h3>First Stable Release - GRASS 5 Free Geographic Information System</h3>
Today the GRASS Development team led by Markus Neteler released the first
stable version (5.0.0) of the well known GRASS Geographic Information System.<br>
<br>
GRASS 5 is OSI Certified Open Source software, the sources of which can be
found at ITC-irst, Italy, on <a href="http://grass.itc.it">http://grass.itc.it</a>
and several mirrors along with documentation and sample data. Mirror sites
include Baylor University (<a href="http://www3.baylor.edu/%7Egrass/">http://www3.baylor.edu/~grass/</a>)
and and <a href="http://grass.ibiblio.org">http://grass.ibiblio.org</a> in
the USA.&nbsp; Baylor University has long been associated with GRASS development
efforts and the GRASS community appreciates and acknowledges that support.<br>
<br>
In addition to traditional Unix platforms such as Linux, Solaris and IRIX,
experimental versions of GRASS 5 also run under Microsoft Windows (R) using
the Cygwin tools and Apple Macintosh OS-X (R), also known as Darwin. It was
also ported to handheld devices such as Compaq/iPAQ (R) and SHARP/Zaurus
(R).<br>
<br>
This new version is the first major change in GRASS functionality since GRASS
4 was released several years ago.&nbsp; Notable improvements include support
for floating point and null values.&nbsp; Users can opt to use a new windowing
interface based on Tcl/Tk on those platforms supporting X Window.<br>
<br>
A successful series of beta and pre-releases of GRASS 5 over the last two
years has shown the software sufficiently stable to justify a wider audience
release in the view of developers and users alike.<br>
<br>
"This release was long in coming, because the GRASS source code base is huge."
explains the team coordinator Markus Neteler. "In the last few years GRASS
also completely changed the development model adopting an open volunteer
driven process and fully going the Free Software way."<br>
<br>
"This is a milestone release." reveals Professor Helena Mitasova of North
Carolina State University. "Markus Neteler has successfully coordinated many
developers to undertake this huge endeavor." Professor Mitasova views GRASS
5.0 as a unique geospatial research environment which encourages experiments
and innovation.<br>
<br>
<h4>References</h4>
GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis and Support System) web sites with software
download:<br>
<br>
&nbsp;<a href="http://grass.itc.it/">http://grass.itc.it/</a><br>
&nbsp;<a href="http://www3.baylor.edu/grass/">http://www3.baylor.edu/grass/</a><br>
&nbsp;<a href="http://grass.ibiblio.org/">http://grass.ibiblio.org/</a>

<p>

GNU Project:
&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gnu.org/">http://www.gnu.org/</a>
<p>

Open Source Initiative (OSI)
&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opensource.org/">http://www.opensource.org/</a>
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