> From: Darren Hart > After several years of offering the molecular biology software VectorNTI > free to the academic community (their "open access program") and building > up a huge user base, Invitrogen have suddenly announced that they will no > longer renew these free licences and the existing ones will be left to > expire within the year. There are heavy renewal fees for anyone wishing to > continue use of this software.
This is reminiscent of what happened with both MDL's Chime and Accelrys' WebLab/DSViewer, and it serves as yet another compelling anecdote for why scientists should: 1. Be wary of relying upon "free" tools not based on open-source code. 2. Be extremely wary of "free" tools which come with a license manager. 3. Instead favor "free" software tools which strictly meet the established definitions of: Open Source: <http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd>, Free Software: <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>, or Public Domain: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain> since it is *only* those tools that can be safely taken for granted over the long haul. Of course, if taking software tools for granted isn't your top priority, then please help to improve scientific software by purchasing high-quality commercial tools, by sponsoring and/or participating in open-source projects, or by becoming a developer yourself. Cheers, Warren
