"in Miami Shores, Alex Maximiano has written software... It took him two years... his encyclopedia CD, OrchidWiz...
judges use it. ... it lists species, hybrids, parents, aliases and other facts about the flowers... Maximiano earned a degree in management information systems from the University of Colorado, and worked as a computer programmer for three years in Denver. Then, with an MBA, he headed to Silicon Valley. Eventually, he joined the Oracle staff in Atlanta, selling high-end databases to banks, telecommunications companies and governments throughout Latin America... One day in 2003, he was looking for a gift for his mother-in-law, who grows orchids. ''I went on eBay and saw a listing for [immature] hybrid orchids. The pictures showed both parents and the hybrid. I thought it would be neat to cross orchids myself . . .'' he says In trying to decide which orchids to use for breeding, Maximiano turned to a computer program already on the market. ''It didn't give me all I wanted,'' he says. So he set to work... writing a program that would allow him to scan orchid references and pick up the information he wanted, such as the size of the flowers. Whole books were sliced apart and scanned so Maximiano could mine information. The kind of data once listed in table form (which is not copyrighted under United States law) now appears in Maximiano's... graphics. Photos of hybrid orchids are shown with photos of the flower's parents. ... key characteristics such as size and number of flowers also are given for comparison. The first CDs became available in November 2005. OrchidWiz 3.04 is the latest version, listing more than 127,000 hybrids and 27,000 species. There are 8,500 photos, two-thirds of them belonging to Maximiano and the rest contributed from growers around the world. ... The AOS has its own software put together by volunteers that sold for $45 a year. OrchidWiz costs $175. ... Maximiano... works 50 to 60 hours a week compiling new information for the next version. He is planning to have as many as 20,000 photos, pronunciation guides, addresses of hybridizers and the original descriptions of orchids made by James Veitch in the 19th century. ... Through it all, he has found a way to create his own hybrids in his kitchen, and has a few plants big enough for his orchid house -- an admittedly neglected spot of late." article URL : http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/home/16768887.htm **************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
