GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

06-12-2005, 09:11 PM posted to rec.gardens.orchids

In article ,
says...
Did I meet your mother once? For some reason I thought I met you both at
the same time, although I can barely remember this moment, and it may be one
of those days when the antennae were causing more problems than they were
solving.
Nope, don't think Mom has been east of the Mississippi that I know of
except for changing palnes at O'Hare or JFK. How about an RGO meeting at
the Miami WOC??

...and "fray" pretty much describes it BTW.
Yep, and sometimes it frays more than others. I know my nerves get
frayed here...

The one think I will look for in OrchidWIz is a program that updates new
information in a timely fashion. I have been buying wildcatt since it first
came out (12 years ago now?) as an alternative the AOS's outrageously priced
offering. I have been updating it 4 times a year since then. I look at it
as a subscription and I find it valuable. I have noticed that the data is
presented in a rigid manner and is becoming outdated in it's presentation.
Yet it does not change. I had been wondering when, if ever "Wildcat II" was
going to come out. There are so many other connections that might be made
with this data, and I figured it was only a matter of time before Wildcat
updated something other than new data, (which is a big commitment for a
small company to begin with)...or somebody beat them to it. Pictures are
not important to me.... But new ways to connect and present this data is.
This desire to see these new connections implemented still does not outweigh
the desire to have current information available. Time will tell. More
power to you. Or to wildcat... I wonder if Helga is paying attention too.
:-)

Well, Alex plans to update every 6 months, and the program is sure
flexible.
I have even found out how to search for species by almost every
available criteria except color. I can search by geographical
distribution, size, light and temp requirements, fragrance, genus,
family...WOW! A friend is looking for a pleuro he saw in Cuba. Boom! I
can list them!
I have often wondered why or when the AOS or RHS was going to implement a
web available searchable database system that allowed the data to be
useable. The small effort the RHS has made is notable but very limited in
what and how the data can be used. Of course, it is free and always up to
date if all you want it so know first generation parents or grex names. And
picture and culture sheets are available everywhere. I figured a
subscription service would one day be available from their websites that
allowed much greater search and presentation abilities of the data. It has
not happened yet.

The big problem I had with RHS is its inflexibility and the fact that it
didn't always function. "610 hits. Page 1 of 1". Duh. Quite frustrating.

One of the reasons that the AOS and RHS have had to suffer with the presence
of Wildcat as a competitor is that they took the same data and presented it
in a new format... and so could not be held in violation of copyright laws.
You can not take a phone book and copy it page per page and republish it,
but you can take the same data and present it in a new format.
All I can say is I hope Alex makes a lot of money on it and DOESN'T sell
out to the AOS or RHS. They would probably ruin it.

--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
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