Re: SkyMap v1.0
Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Sat, 23 Mar 1996 18:01:05 -0500
> As far as Quicksat is concerned, are we talking about the same program?
> I've used v2.1 on the PC and the need to _manually_ edit an ASCII control
> file whenever the user wishes to change a program parameter seems
> unbelievably archaic (to put it mildly). This procees would seem to me to
> be far more of an obstacle for beginners than any presented by SkyMap's
> intuitive Windows-based user interface.
I think we are talking about the same program. I wouldn't quibble with
the adjective archaic. But let's examine it in a little more detail.
QuickSat is written by Mike McCants, whose visual catalog was cited for
its excellence in Sky&Telescope Magazine as long ago as 1971. That's
archaic. As far as I know, it is still the best available catalog,
despite my efforts and many others. Now how do you assemble a fine
visual catalog? You observe a lot of satellites. A LOT. That is where
QuickSat shines. I would guess, from my own experience and that of many
others reported to me, that people who start using QS, begin to see about
3 times as many satellites as before.
Many of these non-archaic interfaces fit beautifully into the
"baby-sitting" model of computing; buy a bunch of equipment and hire a
bunch of people to baby-sit it all day (I have a bunch of models of
computing which I might mention from time-to-time). QS has a specific
purpose and it fulfills that purpose excellently.
Cheers.
Walter Nissen dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu