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The following are some of the positive, written comments to MicroImages during the last quarter exactly as written except for the [edit] alterations in [brackets] to keep them anonymous. Many more comments are received by MicroImages by voice but cannot be reproduced here verbatim as quotes. Please note that these quotations are not edited from their original form in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

from a prospective client in Spain on 22 July 1996.

"Of course, I received, installed, and used TNTlite. I think it is a great software, and if fully fills our needs. However, we are a small university and we currently lack the money to purchase TNTmips. I am trying to obtain some funding because I am fully interested in the package. However, my work must go on, and I am looking for other cheaper packages with the same capabilities as yours...without success."

from an email from a Polish client on 23 July 1996.

"As an educational institution we use some systems in educational process and sometimes another in research (Genmap, Genasys, Erdas Imagine, ErMapper, Idrisi, MapInfo, Oracle database and of course TNTMips). TNTMips is not such popular in Poland as Erdas or ArcInfo, but in our opinion TNTMips is the most universal system we know. So we are interested in installation net version of TNTlite in our lab and buying additional CDs for student who would be using them at home. On the other hand we need full version of TNTmips for our research projects."

[This email continues on regarding details of an additional new system to be ordered. Subsequently, this client has purchased an additional UNIX based TNTmips product (model U240 for five simultaneous users on an SGI platform).]

from an email on 25 July 1996.

"Just found a rave review about your GIS product on the Web, and am writing for more information."

from a letter from a TNTlite user dated 7 August 1996.

"I have been trying out TNTlite for a period of time and have been very satisfied with your product. TNTmips seems to be a complete package that supports all the needs for GIS software. I have been searching for a Swedish dealer, but have come to the conclusion that there isn't anyone on the Swedish market, and therefore I would like to introduce and sell the MicroImages products in Sweden myself."

"I'm working in the county administration office with education and development work in the GIS sector, but am in the first phase of starting my own business, a company that will offer education and software development in the GIS-sector. I've tried several programs out and I've experienced that they either have been afflicted with a lot of limitations or have been far to complicated for the most users to operate. In light of this experiences and my knowledge about the Swedish GIS-software market, I'm firmly convinced that TNTmips have potential to become one of the most popular GIS products in Sweden."

"During training courses in Arc/Info I've been holding I have noticed that the students have had problems with the user-interface. During my work at the county administration I've been using other programs, such as Arcview, Mapinfo, PC arcinfo, Idrisi and Map factory but I think that TNTmips is a better choice compared to them."

[continued on with details relative to ordering]

from a web site entitled FREE PROMOTIONAL CD-ROM OFFERS (PC Only).

[This site is at (www.west.net/~cdromug/free/cds.shtml) and describes hundreds of unrelated free CDs and provides links to the sites where they can be ordered. MicroImages submitted a standard TNTlite kit to them for their review. Their current listing for TNTlite is as follows.]

"MicroImages, Inc. (for students and small projects"

["Awesome" and "grade = A = I love it" are real good marks for TNTlite from a generic site listing all sorts of free unrelated CDs and which now links to microimages.com. These are words not usually bantered about in connection with massive technical products. In this site's current list of several hundreds of free CDs, their coveted "A" grade has only been assigned in addition to a couple of hot game CDs; the Lotus Notes trial CD; and Microsoft's 'TRIAL 95', a two CD set providing a 90 day free trial use of Windows 95, Office Professional, Project, and Plus. This puts TNTlite in pretty good company!]

[However, one point does need clarification. The $25 charge gets you two CDs (original and next release if registered), two sets of materials, and two shippings even to any address outside the USA. This does not seem "exorbitant", but this webmaster does seem to run toward superlatives in this review.]

from an order from New Zealand for TNTlite on 30 August 1996.

from an email from a client in Germany on 21 August 1996.

"It's up to me to apologize, too. I never intended to blame your product. I have been working as a windows programmer and database administrator for the last 5 years (and I have been in computer business for more that 10 years now) and I really do appreciate your program because I know about the hard work that has to be done behind the scene (besides of all the special GIS stuff in the case of TNTmips)."

"So let's state that our communication took place on a day that was not one of the best for both of us."

from email from a prospective client in Italy on 26 May 1966 using V5.30.

[The following is a portion of an email communication between two different nations and members of a multinational European team conducting a funded project to implement expert system and artificial intelligence software for geological exploration. Their new software will use someone's GIS software for its underlying geospatial data management component. This Italian company reviewing TNTmips (actually TNTlite at the time of this summary) is not a client of MicroImages but is responsible for selecting the appropriate GIS component and writing a significant portion of the higher level software required.]

"From this first analysis of TNTmips we can make the following remarks:"

"The TNTmips software is very complex, powerful and versatile so that a complete analysis of it requires much more time, but certainly it is one of the best tools for geography and geological analysis among commercially available GIS."

"According to the application notes we received you should use the WATCOM C compiler, but MIcroImages told us that nowadays they are using the MICROSOFT C compiler."

"The TNT software is based on one specific .RVC project format file, which handles RASTER, VECTOR, CAD, and Data Base objects [also TIN objects], and there are library functions which can manage this .RVC files without bothering [with] the internal structure of them. This file format seems to be suitable for our [a name] system."

"The evaluation that geological and geophysical experts about TNT product were very good and in fact the geographic calibration and georeference capabilities of the TNTmips seems to be very exhaustive."

"Our conclusion, from this first look to TNTmips, are quite positive. We are planning to try some simple software integration as soon as we receive the hardware key, if you are also planning to do some integration test we could plan together the tests."

[This independent opinion is clearly from a competent technical person who in a short time with TNTlite had no difficulties in identifying many of the key technical characteristics of TNTmips. MicroImages has continued to discuss this advanced use of TNTmips with this group as the geospatial base for the construction of their system. MicroImages is optimistic that this will be the end result.]

[In reaction to this opportunity and his comment regarding the status of the TNTsdk Application Note, MicroImages has just employed a new technical staff member. His sole initial responsibility is to upgrade and improve the Application Notes for the TNTsdk and SML. He will also create sample source code snippets and example code modules to include as sample models illustrating how to get started in using each of these approaches.]

from a FAX from a MicroImages Dealer outside the United States on 27 August 1996.

"I have just completed three training courses, one on GIS and two remote sensing/IP courses. These were well attended by a broad spectrum of mining industry personnel from a large cross-section of [a nation's] mining companies. For practical 'hands-on' parts of these courses, I made extensive use of TNTlite, and, compared to my past experiences of running practicals, I can only say that TNTlite is the prefect GIS/IP training product. It is fast, easy to use and, since it has the full TNTmips functionality, the training can be real, in-depth and as sophisticated as the course instructor wishes."

"These courses have been my main TNTmips marketing vehicle over the past two months. I have had ardent ERDAS, ARCinfo, MAPinfo and ATLASGIS users on [in] these courses, and all, by the end of the course, have been convinced of TNTmip's broader capabilities, ease of use, greater stability and superiority when compared to these other systems. Every course delegate has left with a copy of TNTlite, and I hear that many of them are already using it successfully on small projects. One company [a name] major iron and steel mining/exploration company) sent delegates to all these courses, and the geologists insisted that the head of their computing division attend the last course, 'to see why they, as geologists, want TNTmips' in their organization, as opposed to ARCinfo and ARCview, which was the solution on offer. After only one session on TNTlite, this person was 'very impressed'; by the end of the course he was convinced. 'I don't know how our company can afford not to have TNTmips as one of our exploration tools.' I am therefore confident that we will shortly be getting an order from [the company]."

"I personally prefer to distribute TNTlite in this manner (after a course) as I feel people then have a real appreciation for the value of the 'free product' they have received."

an email exchange.

question posted on the Internet from Alaska on 7 August 1996.

"I'm looking for a program that can convert raster (scanned) info into vector based info that can be used by arc-info. I'm using a Mac Q650 (040 chip) but will be upgrading to a PPC. Any info appreciated. Thanks! Oh yeah, does anyone know if Arc-view can import / convert raster data."

answer posted from a MicroImages client on 8 August 1996.

from an email from a U.S. client on 30 August 1996.

"TNT INSTALLED WITH NO PROBLEMS! We were up and running in the 20 minutes it took to do a complete install. We have never had such an easy installation, and still get error messages from Erdas's Imagine and Arc/Info [on the same machine]."

from an email from an Arizona client on 6 September 1996.

[a user of TNTmips professional products]

"I'll keep you posted."

from an email from a long-time South African client on 11 September 1996.

[Since V8.2 is the latest version of ERDAS Imagine, one would assume at this point that the original purchaser of this ERDAS Imagine 8.2 had come to some sort of similar conclusion or result?]

"I am going to return my Imagine 8.2 because it does not work for me. The DXF importer always bombs on me and it cannot print to my HP 820C printer. I try writing EPS files for large format bureau plotting and it write junk. I got frustrated and wrote an angry e-mail message and now I have been blacklisted by ERDAS. I have always been impressed by MicroImages professional approach to dealing with hotheads like myself. No grudges water under the bridge approach. All my problems were trivialized by ERDAS even though they were mission critical. I reported a DXF importing problem 8 months ago and still have no resolution of the matter. I bought the HP820C to discover that it is a non-supported device. Yet I was told by ERDAS engineers that Imagine 8.2 writes to any Windows 95 supported device. After months of wrangling, I freak out and then get blacklisted. I was told by the local distributor that ERDAS was unhappy with my attitude. To ensure my problem would get resolved I faxed a letter apologizing for my 'attitude' even though I do believe I had a right to get angry. No response to that. I may have an 'attitude' but I think ERDAS have a bigger 'attitude' problem."

[MicroImages operates under the premise that all complex (and some not so complex) software products, including ours, will have problems, its really how it gets fixed that counts!]

from an email from the same South African client on 26 October 1996.

"... TNTmips version 5.3 is error-free as far as I am concerned. This is a far cry from the early days when patience was required. Thank goodness that is behind us. TNTmips imports any dxf file I throw at it, by the way. ERDAS Imagine (Windows/95 version) has very limited vector support - you can overlay dxf and arc/info coverages - thats all. ..."

from an email from a user of TNTlite in Spain on 12 September 1996.

"I have to buy a portable computer and one of the programs that I'm likely to use most is TNT [has TNTlite only]. According to TNT's performance, would you advise a Pentium-based machine or a Mac Power book? I've found TNTlite to be rather slow on a Mac Quadra 900 (16 Mb RAM)."

[An example of someone who finds TNTlite sufficiently useful to influence the type of computer to acquire!]

[In a previous MicroImages MEMO, it was documented that a Quadra or any Mac using a 68040 or earlier chip functions like a PC 486 or PC 386 at the equivalent megahertz. This Quadra runs all software like a PC 486/25 or /33. New Power Macs for the office give very similar TNTmips performance as the Pentium at the equivalent megahertz. So for an office setting, either a new PC or Power Mac will perform equally well if equally equipped and powered. However, a Pentium portable was recommended, as currently no Power Mac portable is available in the greater than 100 megahertz category, whereas, there are many choices of Pentiums of 120 or 133 megahertz.]

[Now discussing buying TNTmips Pro for their workstations.]

from a FAX from a German client on 11 September 1996.

[This client site uses most of the features in TNTmips and has kept MicroImages well informed of errors in the past. These errors have been fixed, some fast, some later. Working with these and other supportive clients to improve the reliability of the TNT products has continued to the benefit of all of us.]

[A list of suggestions for enhancements and new features occurred next.]

['Vivacious' can mean 'lively' or 'agreeable', either of which would probably apply to introducing TNTmips on a low cost portable into a "big iron" ARC/INFO shop representing a lot of investment.]

from an email from a South African client on 12 September 1996.

from an email from an Australian client on 14 September 1996.

"Thanks for the message. It is good to hear that IRIX 6.2 will not pose any problem. I am also glad that TIN processing [for a specific surface fitting process] has been upgraded and will be waiting for V5.5."

"On a positive note I appreciate very much for the tremendous effort TNTmips [MicroImages] has put to improve the capabilities. I believe it is now one of the best integrated RS-GIS software."

"I would also like to see that the other development specially STEREOSCOPIC MODELING with EDITING capabilities for drainage, ridge lines, escarpment/cliffs etc., TIN with breaklines, drainage etc. [This is one of the major foci of software development activity for TNTmips at this time.]"

from an email from a new client in Germany on 16 September 1996.

"Congratulations for your TNTmips software, by far the best GIS I ever tried!!"

from an email from a Tasmanian student using TNTlite on 26 September 1996.

"I was sent a copy of TNT-Lite because I had corrected some FUD on the Mapinfo-L [MapInfo list server], thank-you. I hadn't got around to registering it yet, largely because I hadn't had much time to play with it, but I got a note saying that version 5.4 was shipping and reminding me to register - thank-you again, and I might say that the difference between MapInfo's behavior towards customers and what I have experienced of yours does not reflect well on them!"

[This email from the student user of TNTlite V5.30 goes on to document two errors. Both of which were corrected by V5.40, which he would already have been using if he had promptly completed his registration. And yes, he also got an email response from MicroImages' software support regarding his problems.]

from a FAX from a MicroImages Authorized Dealer on 27 September 1996.

"Although TNTmips came out of this review looking very good, I think that comparisons of TNTmips with IPS don't do it justice because they tend to concentrate on the features that all IPS aspire to. There is not enough emphasis on its GIS functionality. The statement that TNTmips provides good integration with GIS misses the point that TNTmips is a GIS and spatial images are just another kind of spatial information. Why buy an image processing system when you can get a GIS that does the same?"

[This is why the cover statement was added to the reprints of this article which are being shipped with V5.50 of TNTmips. This cover statement looks at it from the viewpoint of price versus performance. The above paragraph addresses essentially the same idea but from the viewpoint of functionality. The above dealer concludes that while the review is correct in what is says, it is misleading in what it leaves unsaid about TNTmips and therefore also possibly about the other products.]

"The main criticism of TNTmips these days seems to be the documentation. Personally I almost never use documentation for anything. I believe that learning to use a complicated system like TNTmips by trial and error is cheaper and more effective than a training course. You learn all sorts of things you didn't need to know, but which come in useful sooner or later."

[Unfortunately there is a whole spectrum of those who buy software. This ranges from experimentalists to manual memorizers and from theoreticians to savants. So, we have some clients who read documentation cover-to-cover before they install the software. Others use it only as the last resort for reference when they cannot work it out for themselves.]

from email from a client in Ecuador on 2 October 1996.

"Note: We do own a current license of TNTmips. I plan on using TNTlite in a week long remote sensing workshop I am teaching for a week at the [a university]. Any suggestions? Last minute observations? If so please respond by email, but here's the rest of the information for the upgrades. I think this program will be a lifesaver for this seminar Û I had doubts about all the licensing / key trauma... It will also spread the word about TNTmips down here. Thanks!"

from a FAX from a MicroImages Dealer outside the United States on 7 October 1996.

"I have just returned from a trip to [a city], where I set up a TNTlite Lab in the Geology Department at [a university], and gave a one week intro. course on Remote Sensing/Geodata analysis. They are most impressed with the software and will be trying to get funding for purchasing one professional TNTmips license to master training data sets and for research purposes."

[This FAX goes on to explain that the TNTmips key was stolen after the course but fortunately was insured. A new TNTmips key has subsequently been ordered. Insure your valuable property!]

from an email from a U.S. client on 10 October 1996.

"Its nice to see you take a genuine interest in your customers, this is one of the reasons I don't mind advocating your products - you can call MicroImages and get a real person at the other end."

"Currently I am preparing for a new grant from the [an agency] (that is what I am buying the additional TNTmips license for) that involves updating 1978 land cover to 1996 land cover. The plan is to use TNTmips to georeference and rectify (as best we can) USDA 35mm color air slides and then update the 1978 vectors on top in TNTedit. The area in question is 31 townships surrounding the [a river] which is a [name] site. This grant augments the one I just finished in which we used TNTmips and PC Arc/Info (I would rather we had the second copy of TNTmips back then) to convert several paper data sources to digital form. The most time consuming layers were soils and National Wetlands inventory which is where TNTmips was a tremendous asset with its powerful raster to vector ability."

"I have many other small projects going all the time with local government and other segments of the University. I am constantly consulting with our Geography and Geology departments and many students who come in to pick my brain. I have loaned the TNT CD to at least 3 students so far who have wanted to use TNTlite and they were quite impressed. The Geography Department just borrowed the CD earlier this week and plans to install TNTlite on 18 new Pentium 133's just bought."

"Hopefully next year I will have time to publish a few articles on projects that use TNTmips."

from a FAX from a client in Portugal on 11 October 1996.

"I've been exploring the TNTMIPS (v. 5.4) capabilities and would like to give you my congratulations for it and for the excellent documentation you provide."

from an email from a Canadian TNTlite user on 11 October 1996.

"I am a graduate student at the University of [a name] and have been given the opportunity to help revamp the 3rd year course entitled Resource Planning and Management. This course currently uses OSUmap [?] to introduce the students to GIS. I would like to use TNTlite, a copy of which I was recently given by a fellow grad student. The professor for the course has approved, providing we can use the raster files originally used in OSUmap. I have from now till Christmas to develop a set of readily understandable instructions for a software package that I know virtually nothing about. Does MicroImages have anything available (eg in the form of a tutorial / simplified manual / example lessons / etc.) that I could get access to?"

"In the past, the GIS component of the course has consisted of the 'typical' GIS functions of restraint mapping to determine the most suitable site for.... (some activity). This will not change. The professor, however, has agreed that as SOME students become more GIS literate, they will want, and should have, access to more sophisticated software so that they may explore the subject in more depth."

"Any assistance you can offer me would be greatly appreciated."

[By the time this class starts early next year, he will be using the powerful V5.60. In reaction to this kind of input from TNTlite (and TNTmips) users, you will find that more and simpler "how to" materials are becoming available. The first examples of this material are included with V5.50: Getting Started Displaying Geospatial Data; ABCs of Image Analysis with TNTlite; TNTlite Recipes; and several new practice TNTlite data sets. More materials of this type will ship with V5.60 for the beginning user.]

from an email from a TNTlite faculty user in Australia on 17 October 1996.

"We are quite excited with TNTlite and are wondering whether you can guide use in terms of the availability of text(s), tutorials that use TNTlite/TNTmips at a level suitable for introduction of GIS/RS to first year University students."

"Perhaps you could point me to a particular site of provide a URL?"

from an email from a TNTlite faculty user in Canada on 17 October 1996.

"I am the Lab Coordinator for the GIS lab in the Dept. of [a name] at the University of [a name]. Currently we are running ArcView, MapInfo, and PCI [Easy Pace] for student training and research projects. The TNTlite package looked like a good, affordable alternative that students could take with them when they left. The potential is also present to get the full TNTmips package as an alternative to PCI."

[It continues on with info about downloading and a problem getting installed.]

from an email from a U.S. client on 22 October 1996.

"Thank you for the e-mail. I like conversing about my TNT work. No one here (yet) to do that with."

"I do not mind advising the person from South Africa. It will be good to talk about TNT, and especially the calibration and correction of TM data (my results were absolutely striking! I made natural color (3,2,1 RGB) and CIR (4,3,2) look like aerial photos, photos from 700 km up!) I miss the TNT chat line."

"The SML script development you mentioned. Will this be specifically for converting from DNs to radiance? Or a more general linear calibration function(s) that could be included in SML scripts (ala the Focal functions, etc.)"

from an email from a client in Germany on 25 October 1996.

[The email starts with a description of a continuing troublesome problem and finishes with:]

"4) Now I want to switch to a totally different matter. Unfortunately I did not find time to have a closer look at the new features of V. 5.4 until these days. I want to tell you that I am very pleased, especially with the vector combination module, the new options in 'measure' concerning rasters."

"Reading about the planned features [for V5.50] concerning extended database capabilities and vector treatment makes me look forward to the future releases of TNTmips. Already now I think that TNTmips is the best value for the money in the market (I believe that I can judge this to at least some extent because, besides work, I am studying Geomatics at the [a university], Austria, where I learned a lot about what you can expect from the different systems that are around. Also, I am in touch with other participants who are using the 'big' systems like ArcInfo, Intergraph, and who are not satisfied with what they got pretty often."

[So now TNTmips can claim to be the biggest 'little' system around.]

from an email exchange at the end of October 1996.

[Student on 29 October 1996] "Hello, I left a voice mail yesterday, and realized it would probably be easier for you to get a hold of me via the network. I am very interested in the software available from microimages, TNTlite. I am a graduate student at CU Denver in environmental science, as well as an employee of the USGS. I am currently building a GIS for a Nature Conservancy property in South Park that is to be used to catalog soil, water, and species cover data. The coverages are in ARC/INFO format and the data is being accessed in INFO using the CURSOR tool. My questions are:"

"1) Does TNT support ARC file format?"

"2) Is the database relational?"

"As I am graduating soon, I would like to turn over the maintenance of the database to another student in the Biology Dept. However, it is unlikely he/she would have ready access to a workstation, ARC/INFO license, etc. I plan to migrate the GIS to the Mac/PC platform to solve this problem, but I am not satisfied with the current offerings from ESRI or MapInfo, especially given their relatively high cost. I would very much like to try your product, as it may be the solution I'm looking for."

"Sincerely, [a name]"

[Dealer on 30 October 1996] "Thank you for thinking of using e-mail - I received your phone message among a dozen others and this is definitely more efficient for me in term of response. I would like to assure you that if you are looking at passing along a project to someone and are considering a Mac or a PC as the vehicle, that TNTmips/TNTlite would provide the most ideal system for achieving this goal. TNTlite is just a scaled down version of TNTmips - but only limited in the size of the fields you can assemble to work on. The toolset is exactly the same in both packages - no modules! Also, no command line prompt - everything is operating in a windowing environment (currently under an X Windows Server) and you can work on the same project file even if you have a Mac, I have a PC, and someone else in the UNIX world. Other benefits are: the software is updated quarterly (yes every three months), technical support is free and human, you get to work with all the data structure in one system (raster, vector, CAD, database, TINs, text...), and I believe the system is easy to learn for the APPLIED person - the scientist, resource manager, field biologist, consultant, geologist, etc."

"The cost of the TNTlite system (on CD-ROM) is $25.00. If you access the MicroImages web page http://tnt.microimages.com you can find out more about MicroImages products and even download TNTlite for free! Be careful though - you'll download a 60 to 80 meg file that will unzip to about 100 megs or so."

"I would be more that happy to send you the CD-ROM package by mail or if you wanted to come by the office here in Boulder that's fine too. However, to send you a copy I need a mailing address, so if you supply me with that I'll get a TNTlite in the mail for you."

"And to answer your questions - yes TNT does support the import and export of Arc files, as well as MapInfo, ERDAS, Intergraph, AutoCAD, and a whole slew of others. The database side of life is evolving towards what I would consider a truly relational level of existence but I believe you would be the best judge of those abilities through evaluating TNTlite."

"I would love to have the opportunity to carry on a bit more with you about this wonderful toolset and approach to spatial data management and visualization - I'll make it a point to give you a call tomorrow."

"Thank you very much for your inquiry."

[Student on 31 October 1996] "Thank you very much for the information on your product. It just so happens that I was attending the Geological Society of America meeting yesterday and stopped by the MicroImages booth. Chris, (I don't have his card with me) was kind enough to show me a demo of the software, and I was able to purchase a copy of TNTlite. It is already installed on my Mac, and I have imported several ARC coverages. I think it took me 6 months to get to this point using ARC/INFO! From what I've seen so far, TNT looks like it may be solution to my problem and the problem many students face in trying to learn GIS."

"Thanks again."

[Dealer on 31 October 1996] "Glad to hear that you got to the MicroImages boot at GSA and got TNTlite from Chris. Also, I am quite impressed with you comments on how quickly you were able to implement TNTlite and will be forwarding this on to everyone at MicroImages (as well as Chris). I do hope you will take time to send in the registration card as this will formally set you up with MicroImages Technical Support. Also, I am available to provide local support and solutions to whatever you may encounter with using TNTlite. I would also like to encourage you to come up to the office here in Boulder if you would like to see some of the projects we have worked on over the last five years using TNTmips. [The dealer] works on a wide variety of environmental problems around the world and I believe you might find some of these projects of interest. Alternatively, I am available to come down your way and give a presentation on MicroImages products to any group that you may feel would be interested. Please let me know if either or both of these scenarios would help you or be of interest. Thanks again - happy TNTlite-ing!"

[Student on 1 November 1996] "I would be very interested in coming to your office in Boulder, it is an easy bike ride across town from my house to your office. I have passed along the TNTlite CD to the computer guru in my group and he is going to give it a test run. I'm not sure if we were in the market of a new GIS, but I'll let you know if anything develops. Let me know when it is convenient for us to get together, my schedule is flexible."

[This exchange summarizes better than anything MicroImages can say about how TNTlite can work for everyone involved. The following points can be summarized from this exchange:

Ô This is an experienced student who knows right away how to get started in a new geospatial analysis system and what to expect from it.

Ô Can there be any lingering doubt from this and other testimonials that TNTmips is now in direct competition with workstation and NT ARC/INFO? Many of these kinds of exchanges do not mention the subject of image processing or analysis.

Ô A responsible and interested dealer who uses, knows, and believes in the products they sell can make a lot of difference. This dealer certainly had no direct financial incentive to work with this student, but all of MicroImages' dealers would react in a similar professional manner. I think many involved, including clients, have a motivation and evangelistic inclination to help newcomers begin to use geospatial tools, usually without ulterior motives.

The above exchange once again demonstrates my formula for operating a satisfying business, regardless of how big or small it may be: start with a responsible company which manufactures good products; select and work with responsible dealers who use the product; and provide the best support possible to intelligent professional clients.]

from an email exchange with a TNTlite user in Australia on 1 November 1996.

[University on 1 November 1996] "The academic staff at this University have decided to use TNTlite for teaching purposes next year. There are a number of issues that I need to clear up with MicroImages about licensing."

"Can you please advise urgently who it is that I should email in order to discuss the issues."

[MicroImages on 1 November 1996] "You may get multiple response to this; sorry if it's confusing. There are NO licensing restriction on TNTlite. You can copy and distribute and use it freely on as many machines in as many places as you like."

"We expect you might be interested in purchasing a full professional TNTmips in order to prepare special datasets for a student / lab use. That product we sell, and it's license is protected by a hardware key (which can be moved from machine to machine)."

"Terry Peterson is the one to talk to about TNTmips purchases."

"peterson@microimages.com"

"Of course, if you limit yourself to the various sample datasets we provide, you can probably get away without purchasing a full TNTmips, professional version. Either way, we're glad you've chosen TNT. Let us know if you have questions."

[MicroImages also on 1 November 1996] "Regarding your email above, the person that you would need to establish contract with is myself. How might I be of assistance?"

[University - same party on 5 November 1996] "My responsibility is to support the academics at this university. As we are a multi campus with small numbers (about 3000 at each of 3 main campuses) we have centralized rather than faculty based computer laboratories. The majority of our students (another 16000 or so) study at a distance using a mixture of paper based materials and the WWW."

"It has been decided that we will use TNTlite for GIS subjects at the three main campuses and also for distance teaching. My responsibility is to ensure that the product is properly licensed by the university, ie that we pay any license fees and observe any restrictions that may be placed on the use of any software product. I have had email mail from [MicroImages, see above] and [a Dealer] and my conclusion from their correspondence is"

"1. that we are free to use TNTlite in any of our laboratories and on any academic's workstation. There are no license fees to be paid."

"2. that we are free to produce our own data sets and include them with any teaching materials delivered on campus or at a distance."

"3. that we can distribute copies of the TNTlite software and data sets to our students anywhere in Australia or a around the world."

"It is our practice to include a disclaimer which would identify you as the owner of the software."

"Please advise if any of these conclusions are incorrect. Thank you."

[My response via FAX on 5 November 1996] "I can assure you that MicroImages does not require any licensing for the use or distribution of our FREE TNTlite product or any datasets anyone might produce for use with it. [Name of university] is free to distribute copies of the TNTlite in any form: Internet, CD-ROM, ... anywhere in the world. The only exception to this is that current United States law requires, and therefore MicroImages must restrict the delivery of all our products by any means to the embargoed nations of:

"If you wish to provide your standard University disclaimer by FAX or airmail I will be happy to sign and return it."

"It may be of interest to you to reread my long MicroImages MEMO entitled Announcing TNTlite dated 25 March 1996 and which accompanies each TNTlite CD-ROM. It describes why TNTlite has been released into the public domain. It seems that this logic closely conforms to [a name] University's local and remote campus needs in supporting the teaching of geospatial ideas. About the only thing we would like is for someone to let us know from time to time how this product works for [a name] University."

"You may wish to provide a TNTlite CD-ROM to your campus, and especially to your off-campus students as part of their course materials. Additional kits of the TNTlite CD-ROM and the accompanying printed materials can be obtained in quantity 10 at US$75 which includes airmail shipping. [A name] at your [a name] Campus has just ordered a set of 10."

"I am sending you by airmail a preliminary copy of a printed flier advertising a color illustrated workbook to be used as a class exercise syllabus for use with the image analysis portion of TNTlite. This color syllabus, sample exercise data, and our TNTlite CD-ROM has been assembled by a California professor and a private Oregon Company and may suit your student tutorial needs. This complete kit of materials sells for U.S.$60 (manual, CD, datasets). It has been assembled to be placed in bookstores for direct sale as a complete unit to students enrolled in courses which use TNTlite for their laboratory exercises. At $60 it is being distributed near cost, but a lower quantity price might be negotiated with its publisher. Please contact them directly if this kit is of interest to [a name] University."

"If you or the [a name] faculty should have any questions please contact MicroImages at any time. Free software support is also available to any user of TNTlite including students via email, FAX, or voice phone."

[MicroImages greatly appreciates the concern of this university about doing things right. But, this exchange illustrates the most significant challenge encountered so far in promoting the unique concept of TNTlite. In general, potential students and especially professionals simply do not believe that it is a free with no strings attached working product. Most seem to think it is some sort of ruse until they try it, as at this university. The next hurdle is convincing Mac and Windows users that all these versions are combined on a single CD-ROM.]

from email from a TNTlite faculty user in Indiana on 4 November 1996.

"I am a Professor of Anthropology at [a university]. My general application area: Archaeology."

"I will be using this software to process geophysical data (magnetic and resistivity site surveys) gathered during our archaeology field school. We are adopting TNTlite as the software of choice to teach our students in the field class. Based on our initial trials, it looks great and provides a future upgrade path to full-featured software."

"To learn more about our field school, see our web page at: [a web address followed] and stay tuned - new maps crediting TNTlite will be appearing on that page soon."

from email from a TNTmips dealer in Australia on 7 November 1996.

"We recently used the colour binarization module to separate contours, streams and roads form a scanned map then we vectorized each layer separately. We were amazed at how effective it was. The map was of poor quality the paper turning yellow and colours were faded, but the colours separated perfectly and the results were no different from scanned repro mats(?)."

"Our two TNTmips operators [names] are up to speed now and doing a wide range of GIS/RS work. We are building a reputation as geographic fix-it people. If data needs to be reformatted or transformed or otherwise processed, there is always a way to do it in TNTmips."

[Continues on other topics.]

from email from a new TNTmips client in Arizona on 7 November 1996.

"I have been working with TNTlite for the past six weeks, and have been very happy with its capabilities, so much so that I have just ordered TNTmips. I have done a lot of work with ERDAS Imagine and have tested ENVI. The one feature they offer that I would like to see in TNTmips would be a link between the feature space (scatter plot, raster correlation) image and displayed raster file. Such a feature is very helpful in determining what class a pixel or group of pixels fall in. This is especially helpful when a limited number of ground truth sites are available, or when no ground truth sites are available."

[Continues on to expand upon request for new feature.]

from email from a TNTmips client in Sweden on 11 November 1996.

"Ok I broke down and finally installed Win 95, giving Gates his pound of flesh."

"Printing problem appears to be solved. Interestingly enough, before I installed TNT for 95, I ran 16 bit TNT under Win 95 and the problem was also gone."

[From this it appears that the printing problem was in the setup of W31 which is common. Also, there has never been a 16-bit version of the TNT products, only a 16-bit W31.]

"TNT is noticeably snappier under 95." [and the computer was not changed!]

from email from a TNTmips client in Germany on 13 November 1996.

"Using TNTmips, we have successfully finished our project mentioned in the communication of July 8, 1996 (an environmental assessment of federal road construction in Germany). This study surveyed an area of 175 km2, it describes its environmental factors and analyzes areas of different environmental sensitivity. The vector combination process of version 5.4, an essential tool for our study, worked quite fine, with large datasets imported from DXF and from ARC files."

"We are struggling hard to promote the use TNTmips and its acceptance by authorities. You will be glad to hear that the project maps we produced with TNTmips have found very positive resonance at state authorities and public presentations. This week, the maps are used for poster presentation at a colloquium on EU [European Community] rules for road planning and environmental assessment. Among the participants are EU officers, German Federal Traffic Ministry officers, and consulting companies. Participants also get a paper with a detail colour print of our maps (see copy sent with this fax) and a text describing our work and the advantages of TNTmips as a GIS software for environmental assessment. Hopefully, I will also manage to write a paper for a German landscape and environmental planning magazine."

"In August, I held a workshop for 20 participants of a one-year GIS and environmental informatics course at the Siemens-Nixdorf Training Center Munich (I had informatics training there three years ago). I used our project data for demonstrating the possibilities of TNTmips and its practical application in GIS analysis and map production. The students were very enthusiastic about the features of the software. This is why you should have received quite a number of orders for TNTlite, especially from a Mr. [a name], the course manager of the Training Center, and from Mr. [a name], a participant. Possible, the Training Center will use TNTlite as a course software for the next year's GIS course. I strictly recommended Mr. [a name] to use the system instead of ARCView."

[MicroImages has indeed shipped more TNTlite kits to Germany than to any other country outside the United States.]

"For you, the promotion of TNTmips means business. For us, it is important that our customers, mostly authorities, learn to know and appreciate the name and value of this software. Still, most German authorities think that GIS and ARCInfo are the same thing, and we have to mention this name in acquisition papers to get the jobs. This is why we try to make TNTmips more popular. However, our recent project results with TNTmips will certainly change the mind of several authorities."

[Continues on to request new features. Note that this is a client and not a MicroImages dealer speaking. Again our clients are our best sales force. We appreciate the loyal support of our clients.]

Abbreviations.

For simplicity, the following abbreviations were used in this MEMO:

W31 = Microsoft Windows 3.1 or 3.11.

NT or NT4 = Microsoft NT 3.1, 3.5, or 4.0 (3.1 is error prone and thus the TNT products require the use of 3.5 and its subsequent patches).

W95 = Microsoft Windows 95.

Mac = Apple Macintosh using the 68xxx Motorola processor and MacOS 6.x or 7.x.

PMac or Power Mac = Apple Macintosh using the 60x Motorola PowerPC processor and MacOS 7.x.

MI/X = MicroImages' X server for Mac and PC microcomputer platform and operating system.