>My conclusion is that IUCr uses COD as a pressure tool >on the monopolistic crystallography databases >in order to obtain lower costs for developing countries.
Armel, do you agree with the IUCr recommendation in the letter you cited that rich countries and individuals like you and me should pay a little more for databases and journals so that developing countries might pay less ? I do. Or maybe you are hoping to "eat your cake and have it too" ? (An old English proverb that Marie Antoinette might have used, since she too, didn't know about cows & paying for butter :-) ILL-ESRF pay the full site licence for the "monopolistic" ICSD, while some laboratories in rich countries apparently allow single-user PC licences, obtained at reduced cost under the IUCr agreement, to be used by all. Alan. Alan Hewat, ILL Grenoble, FRANCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> fax (33) 4.76.20.76.48 (33) 4.76.20.72.13 (.26 Mme Guillermet) http://www.ill.fr/dif/AlanHewat.htm ___________________________________________________________
