Dear users
Can someone comment on general compatibility/interoperability of OSS with other OSS or with the proprietary systems.
Many THanks
Saurabh Data
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Saurabh Data
School of Computing
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
U.K.
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Saurabh Data wrote:
Dear users
Can someone comment on general compatibility/interoperability of OSS with other OSS or with the proprietary systems.
Many THanks
Saurabh Data
That is a very broad question, and I am surely not the most qualified individual to answer. But with those disclaimers I will offer the following.
I work GRASS, Mapserver, MapInfo, AutoCAD, and ESRI GIS software. I find the compatibility/interoperability of OSS is significantly better than that of proprietary software.
An anecdotal example: Last week I needed to import and .E00 grid (an ESRI external format). My ESRI software (ArcView 3.2 & Spatial Analyst 1.1) could not read it. My MapInfo Professional and Vertical Mapper combination could not read it. GRASS read it and exported it to a common format that both proprietary software packages could read.
Editorializing; the proprietary vendors in general, and ESRI in particular, are motivated to keep the user tied to their proprietary data format, and their own proprietary methodology, vocabulary, and user interface. The OSS community bases much of their development on published standards, and prioritizes compatibility in order to gain wider acceptance.
HTH
--
Richard Greenwood
www.greenwoodmap.com