On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:25:09, "Miguel" wrote: > Why do professionals want a browser tool? > > >> I think that Jmol's target audience is students and novices > >> ... who don't have anything else. It is for building > >> tutorials and scripted storyboards that explain things. > > As I said before, I don't understand why biotech/pharma professionals need > a browser tool. > > If they do, then I would love to talk to them.
OK - I'm currently a grad student who will (hopefully) become a professional in the near future. For me Jmol is a very useful piece of software as its focus is on visualization. Since the comparison with PyMOL has come up I would say that when I want to do manipulations and processing of molecules and molecular information I would turn to something like PyMOL (or MOE) - which are 'environments' for handling molecules. But as Warren has mentioned, PyMOL and its ilk are multi function, large footprint tools. When all I want is to look at a structure(s) Jmol is fills the niche perfectly. One use of Jmol for me has been to use it to view molecules in an environment which is not oriented towards chemistry. Specifically when I do statistics in R, it is sometimes handy for me to be able to view a structure quickly. Previously I would have to keep a Hyperchem window open in VMWare or else keep PyMOL open and so on. But the fact that Jmol is java based allows me to integrate it into my workflow quite easily. I think thats where Jmol shines - its a 'component' and not a full blown application. I'm surprised that you mention that Jmol is regarded as something for novices and toy-like. I think it does what its meant to do very well! I agree that it is missing certain functionality - but I see no reason why they cannot be included over time bringing Jmol upto the 'professional' level. I realize that you shoulder the main load of maintanence & development - but I believe that the Jmol community is a huge asset and I am certainly willing to help with whatever I can - which is mainly comments and testing right now due to time constraints. The only reason why I think that Jmol might not be the focus in a professional enviroment is that those environments are already working with tools that carry out visualization (say PyMOL / MOE etc). In that case its understandable that they would not introduce a new tool. However a I mentioned above, if you look at Jmol as a component then I think that is an important and useful peice of software. But I'd be interested in hearing what the professionals have to say about this matter as well. Rajarshi Guha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://jijo.cjb.net> ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Jmol-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jmol-users
