| Message From RSI VP of Engineering [message #27225] |
Tue, 16 October 2001 10:36  |
Matthew Powell
Messages: 6
Registered: October 2001
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Junior Member |
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As VP of Engineering and IT at Research Systems, I would like to elaborate
on the posting from our CEO. I have been monitoring the newsgroups and
understand that this is an issue that many of you are very passionate about.
So, I felt it important to post this message to all of you.
As with most issues there is more than meets the eye with our recent
announcement regarding our decision not to support Mac OS X. The most
important one being that in our desire to be the best scientific
visualization package we can be, we had to shed some unprofitable platforms
in order to focus on the core platforms which make up the bulk of IDL sales.
Our initial desire was to deliver a fully native OS X solution that included
native widgets and a redesigned Aqua user interface. Once we realized the
costs associated with doing that, we knew we could not support the Macintosh
platform profitably. Whether we like it or not, in this day and age,
profitability is a requirement for which we are held accountable.
Now for the good news. In subsequent discussions with Apple they have made
us aware of a commercial X-Windows library for OS X. We are in the process
of evaluating it for use in a native Unix/X-Windows implementation of IDL
and ENVI for the Mac OS X platform. This would solve many technical issues
for us and allow us to continue to support the Macintosh platform both
natively and profitably, as it would leverage off our other Unix/X
platforms. The only thing this does not accomplish is providing IDL with a
new Aqua UI and widget set.
While I cannot promise this will be successful and that we can take it to
market, we are very encouraged by our early results working with the
library. We hope to have some solid results upon which we can base a solid
commitment to our customers in the very near future. We certainly apologize
for any inconvenience this may have caused you and your colleagues and ask
that you give us an opportunity to complete our investigation and try to
come up with a solution that will meet your needs and retain you as a
satisfied customer of RSI.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Richard W. Cooke
Vice President, Engineering and IT
Research Systems, Inc. - A Kodak Company
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