[proteomics] Looking for A Real Database Query Interface
- From: Mavi Gozler <mavigozler@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: proteomics@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 22:12:50 -0800 (PST)
I have had enough of the Waters/Micromass Protein Lynx Global Server 2.2 (PLGS).
The vendor does not really care to hear my complaints and criticisms of it.
There is no technical support for it either from the manufacturer
(Waters/Micromass) or the vendor (Likrom). The vendor dismisses my criticism
of it by saying, "Well, we are seeing publications were people mention the use
of it," basically saying that if there are problems, the user is at fault and
not the product. The vendor is constantly trying to find blame for the failure
of PLGS to perform on external reasons, and will not admit to any defects or
faults in the software. By his own admission he knows nothing about the
software or how to use it. The only thing he knows is that the software is
mentioned in the published literature, and so that is a sales promotion.
It is a $15,000-20,000 piece of software that I would not pay $150 for.
=====
Well, okay. I have an as-is product, and an implicit challenge from the PLGS
salesman to find something better and to work with it.
And so that is the purpose of my message here: to build something better.
People who use PLGS get results IN SPITE OF it, not BECAUSE OF IT. PLGS itself
was built probably from open source materials, although Waters/Micromass will
probably claim that the software possesses proprietary features not found in
other software. One of the selling features might be that PLGS represents a
bundling of features that a proteomics scientist might have to get by
downloading this less-than-user-friendly command-line application here and
there.
Maybe.
I know one thing: PLGS has enough defects and bugs in it that I no longer
trust it to do its primary purpose, which is to efficiently search for proteins
that it should find.
I hope in future postings on this list to propose alternatives and workarounds
to something like PLGS, and to report how I set up these on my laptop. I will
also compare the reliability of PLGS features to features found in other open
source (freebie) software found on the Internet and which I have built.
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