Testimonials and other Tidbits (V5.90)

[There were several previous communications with this individual on the possible use of TNTmips, via TNTlite, as the reference system or to be distributed with the next edition of his widely used textbook on image interpretation in geology.]

"Finally, I got moving on this. I think I told you that the publisher was taken over and that created a delay as things there were re-organized. I have a question about future versions (i.e. upcoming shortly)."

"Will there be a package included in the next version of TNTmips that focuses on hyperspectral applications? Exploration geology now can demand the use of AVIRIS and similar data aimed at spectral mapping and such things a pixel analysis from spectral mixing. It is a big omission from the current edition of the book, and I must include a chapter covering the theory to satisfy the market. It is pretty involved and using some demo software with exemplary data would assist the teaching greatly. I really hope this is planned within the writing period--now until late 1999."

"My survey of available demos [But TNTlite is not a demo?] does put TNTmips at the top of the list, and the only other one still in the running is ENVI [But it is not free?], which does have a hyperspectral package as well as lots of radar stuff in the current version. [Everyone wants a modular rather than integrated package. TNTmips has the same RADAR features if not more than ENVI, they are just not named as such.] It has its downsides though for this particular project, partly because it runs on top of IDL. I do not intend to include anything on customizing software, though the possibility will be mentioned. There is a limit for an introductory text, and I will be very happy if users become comfortably proficient in using off the shelf packages."

"Another issue is whether MicroImages will allow me to edit some of the on-line help for task windows. Although the TNTmips manual is the most comprehensive I have encountered, using it is somewhat unwieldy. I notice that you still have not completed the summarized help script for a number of options." [He does not seem to be aware of the Getting Started booklets, which would be on the CD and could be included in the book.]

"I hope to make a decision before the end of the month. With regards."

[For various reasons, this email was received before the above email could be answered.]

"I met with my commissioning editor yesterday, and we are going ahead with a full proposal for the project, in which TNTlite is the sole software package to be used. The original publisher has recently been taken over, and the proposal will go to [another well-known publisher] in mid-July. Earlier reviewers’ reports were entirely positive and encouraging, and that stage does not need to be gone through again. We are making a very strong case for what amounts to a self-contained instructional pack that will allow many Earth Science departments presently unable to offer remote sensing and mapping option to present such courses. That will be good for the book, and also for MicroImages’ market penetration. The strategy is also achievable within the 1 to 2 years to publication."

"None of the other packages--ENVI, ERMapper, PCI, Erdas--were able to provide such a fully functional demo as TNTmips. The only significant omission from version 5.7 is a hyperspectral handling option. That of course is becoming more important in geological applications, and will eventually be a required skill for many exploration geoscientists. If TNTmips is likely to include that kind of thing in a future release, so much the better. If not, I am sure a way around can be found. Please let me know about MicroImages’ plans in that direction."

[Would next week be soon enough for the addition of a hyperspectral process?]

"…Also, I would need to know about any conditions or provisos that MicroImages would need to settle with the publisher before a contract is in place, preferably before the proposal goes before a board. An outline would be OK, as any detailed negotiations would be between MicroImages and [the publisher]".

[While the exact conditions have not been thought out in detail, they will probably be to reproduce and use the official TNT product CD concurrent to the book if a CD is enclosed in the book; that the publisher can reproduce and include the CD without royalty payments to MicroImages; that prominent reference be made to the fact that corrections to the included version of TNTlite may be posted to the MicroImages web site; and that newer versions of TNTlite and associated materials may be available from MicroImages by various methods.]

In my November 1997 "GeoSpatial FAQ" column, "Freeware Development: Lessons Learned from the Bazaar," I discussed a successful freeware development model. Freeware--a popular distribution and licensing scheme--may be used and shared legally without sending the authors any licensing fees. Popular examples include the Linux operating system, the Perl programming language and the Apache World Wide Web server. These are current, dependable products with a growing user base. And although these examples come from the broader world of general computing, GIS also has a growing body of specialized freeware and shareware.

Available Options

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS), originally developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a popular public-domain GIS software product. GRASS can run on any UNIX platform (I have an old version installed on an ancient NeXT 040 running NeXTStep version 3.0), but commercial versions are available for Macintosh, and Windows 95 and NT platforms.

Like many popular noncommercial packages, there’s a broad base of user support for GRASS, including mailing lists for users and programmers, a newsletter and a frequently asked questions list. Recently, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, announced its GRASS Research Group is taking over product development (see "GRASS Is Back!" GIS WORLD, February 1998, page 60). More GRASS information is available via the Web at http://www/cecer/army.mil/grass/grass.main.html, http://deathstar.rutgers.edu/-grassinfo.html and http://www.baylor.edu/~grass.

Linux is another freeware option. Although some readers may hesitate to use Linux because of nasty rumors about the complex nature of UNIX, the benefits--including cost, dependability and scalability--make it an attractive alternative. Furthermore, vendors like Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Red Hat Software Inc. and Provo, Utah-based Caldera Inc. have worked to hide their Linux packages’ complexity through point-and-click interfaces, simplified installation and technical support contracts. [Note here is one way to make money from widely used, free software: provide consulting via a technical support contract! Perhaps this model can eventually be applied to TNTlite?] GIS labs often find that running Linux/PC-based GRASS is an economical way to implement GIS, particularly for teaching purposes because students can duplicate the lab’s software environment on their home PCs.

Another freeware product is TNTlite from MicroImages, Lincoln, Neb. This free version of the company’s TNTmips image processing software limits the dataset size that can be used. ["image processing software"? No one will accept the idea that GIS and image processing can exist in the same product!] It’s best suited for smaller projects and is available for UNIX, Macintosh and various Windows platforms. TNTlite is available as a personal learning tool for students and professionals experimenting with software and applications, and comes with sample datasets. Further information and software is available at http://www.microimages.com/TNTlite/.

MicroImages’ Web site states that its motive for freeware distribution is the hope that users eventually will purchase the professional TNTmips version--although not a requirement. More and more vendors are providing free software, an act that they feel enhances customer loyalty. [How does free TNTlite enhance customer loyalty? What customer?] Some companies, such as Avenza Software Marketing, Inc. (http://www.a-venza.com), list references beyond their own products. [But they do not have any freeware?] Users should visit vendor sites periodically to survey the latest freeware offerings.

Although there are full-fledged GIS freeware packages to be found, smaller utilities are more common. These are often solutions that developers believe fill a common need, benefiting the GIS community at large. These utilities may be translation tools, data manipulation routine, device drivers, distance calculations or software extensions. Data translation tools are particularly popular. A large collection of file translation tools for U.S. Census Bureau TIGER files are offered by Sol Katz, and can be downloaded via file transfer protocol at ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/tiger. Other utility types also can be found at the site.

GIS Freeware Locations

Most authors adequately publicize their software, posting notices to related newsgroups, mail lists and Web sites. Announcements often appear on the GIS-List and comp.infosystems.gis newsgroup, so watch these and similar forums for freeware information. Remember to provide authors with feedback so they can improve and fix the software, because freeware developers rely heavily on user testing and input.

Also, users need to test freeware and determine if it’s worth using. That can depend on the computing environment, staff capabilities and cost. However, don’t be afraid to use freeware just because there isn’t a large technical support group. Users must evaluate their needs and carefully determine if the freeware packages is right for them.

10 March 1998

Lisa W. Nyman

Geography Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233-7400

Reference: GeoSpatial FAQ: Another Look at Freeware Development,

GIS World, March 1998, page 78.

Thank you for including TNTlite in your column in the March issue of GIS World. I am pleased that you recognized the difference between fully functional, free geospatial analysis software systems such as GRASS and TNTlite, intended for educational use, and the demonstration products of other commercial vendors. Many others do not "look under the hood," as they find it hard to believe that MicroImages would give away a fully functional equivalent of a $5000 product.

As you indicated, the TNTlite product does restrict the size of the project for which it can be used. Students can learn just as much about geospatial analysis working with a city block as with the geodata of an entire city. This is shown by the lighting analysis project included as an illustration in your review. In addition, students are less likely to be exploited as cheap labor to compete with private business when teaching them is oriented in such a fashion.

In the paragraph immediately above your comments on TNTlite, you noted that LINUX is a free attractive alternative operating system for use with the PC-based version of GRASS. I wish to bring to your attention that all the TNT products are available for LINUX. The LINUX versions of TNTlite are also popular in academic settings, using all PC networks set up for remote, multiuser access.

When the TNTlite concept was created, we realized that certain professional applications would directly use it without ever moving on to purchase our professional products. For example, geospatial analysis in precision farming applications of individual fields, archaeological excavations, and many other individually oriented projects can be easily completed within the size limits. However, we concluded that the benefits TNTlite conveyed to students would outweigh the losses of these markets.

Please note that the latest free TNTlite kits now contain 33 printed tutorial booklets each, averaging 20 pages per booklet. These tutorials help beginners learn geospatial analysis by working through various projects with the geodata provided. Three additional tutorial booklets are nearly complete, and their titles illustrate the nature of all the tutorials in this series: Understanding Map Projections; Managing Geoattributes; and Localizing Into Another Language (for example, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, ...). The 700 pages of current tutorials are heavily illustrated in color and are also included on the TNTlite CD-ROMs in Adobe PDF format. Or, they can be downloaded from our web site in Adobe PDF or PageMaker format. A total of 54 of these tutorials is planned.

From your GIS FAQ, I know that you are familiar with the use of Avenue in ArcView and MapBasic in MapInfo. MicroImages is just completing a similar geospatial programming capability called SML (Spatial Manipulation Language). This language will allow our clients, including those using TNTlite, to prepare their own custom products integrating GIS, image analysis, desktop mapping, surface modeling, and so on. Any geospatial application created in this SML language, which stays within the object size limits of TNTlite, can be run without alteration on any platform equipped with the free TNTlite (Mac, Windows, or UNIX (including LINUX)). It may also interest you that so far, we have been able to extend software support by email to those using our free TNTlite product without interfering with our normal business.

Your name does not show up on our inquiry records, indicating that you obtained your copy of TNTlite by some indirect means, such as through an associate, as a download from our web site, or whatever. Accompanying this letter is the standard TNTlite kit made up of V5.80 on CD-ROM and the printed tutorials so that you can see for yourself what these additional free materials are like. These are the same "hardcopy" materials that approximately 12,000 other students and interested parties have ordered.

Today we accessed the current GIS-FAQ last updated on 23 December 1997. A search of the site did not turn up any references to TNTlite or our professional TNT products. Please note that the TNTlite products are used in 135 nations and the professional TNT products are used in 90 nations. From this broad client base, I hope you conclude that additional professionals around the world may be interested in finding information about these geospatial analysis products on the GIS-FAQ.

Dr. Lee D. Miller

President, MicroImages

"Hi. As you can tell, I am much in favor of freeware. We have the typical problem here of management types having a problem with our decision to use freeware."

"I am motivated to write pro-freeware articles in part so we can, in our struggle with management, point to some more printed materials in favor of freeware :-)"

"Thanks for the software, by the way. I appreciate it."

"I’m always in favor of publicizing freeware. This was my 2nd or 3rd article on the subject. I tend *not* to give similar column space to commercial program."

[But what about the lack of mention of the TNT products in the GIS FAQ?]

Digital Photogrammetric Workstations (DPWs)

In recent years, the capability of handling SPOT stereo-pairs has been extended to DPWs. This development has come both from the traditional photogrammetric system suppliers and from the suppliers of image processing systems for use with remotely sensed imagery. Into the former category fall the SPOT software modules developed by photogrammetric system suppliers such as LH Systems (SOCET SET), Intergraph (Trifid) and Autometric/Vision International (SoftPlotter OrthoMAX), all of whom are or have been suppliers of analytic plotters. It is interesting to note that versions of these software packages have also been licensed and developed for sale by remote sensing system suppliers. These include Erdas with the OrthoMAX module and, most recently, PCI with a Windows NT version of SOCET SET to be marketed and sold under the title of Image Works Stereo.

The SPOT module of SOCET SET is already in use with SSC Satellibild, OM&M and Space Imaging EOSAT. The latter two companies also utilize a similar module for the processing of IRS-1C and -1D stereoimagery that has been developed recently within the SOCET SET software suite. A similar module has just been introduced by PCI. The Trifid SPOT software is used on Intergraph Image Station DPWs by the UK (MCE) and Saudi (MSD) military mapping services.

Other remote sensing systems suppliers have developed their own digital photogrammetric modules in-house. These include EASI/PACE system--which is based on a software package originally developed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS)--and the MicroImages TNTmips system. Both of these modules concentrate on automated image matching for the extraction of DEMs and the generation of orthoimages from SPOT stereo pairs using a high degree of automation. However, the lack of stereoviewing and mensuration capabilities in these modules precludes operator-controlled extraction of features from the SPOT stereo-model. Even more seriously it does not allow the correction and elimination of the inevitable errors and failures experienced during stereo-correlation that need correction by a human operator.

There also exist two or three smaller suppliers whose products are strongly linked with or have been derived from university departments in North America that have teaching and research programmes in photogrammetry and remote sensing. They include R-WEL with its Desktop Mapping Systems (DMS) originating from the University of Georgia in the USA and DVP Geomatics with its Digital Video Plotter (DVP) developed at Laval University in Canada. Both of these low-cost PC-based systems have modules that can handle SPOT stereo-pairs. So does the VirtuoZo systems running on Unix-based SGI work stations which originated at the Wuhan University of Surveying & Mapping in China. This has been transformed into a commercial product and is now being sold by an Australian company based in Brisbane.

"I recognize that a module that is experienced as stable by all but one user is hardly a problem (although I wonder how many users are reluctant to report situations that reflect their own negligence in backing up, or their presumed clumsiness); my mail was sent purely as user feedback, reporting a situation ‘in the wild’, where users are imperfect, OS’s are imperfect, and programs can suddenly do strange things. In fact I consider TNT ‘stable’, even compared to mass-produced programs that tax the system much less."

"The point about inviolability made, I want to add that I continue to be impressed by TNT and recommend it to counterpart organizations in S. America, Africa and Asia, especially those that would really gain from using an integrated product."

"...We need to know because we have acquired the [national] project mentioned in the fax of 23.10.97 and 24.10.97. ... One of out competitors was EOSAT! They offered IRS and IKONOS (!, not even launched to space) imagery, together with ERDAS licenses and training, but they did not offer analysis work. We convinced the [sponsor] that TNTmips is the better software (we made use of the 1995 test in GIS World). Do you know about use of IRS imagery (‘SOD’ format) with TNTmips?"

"I look forward to buying a couple more copies [TNTmips] at the start of our next financial year (budgets and God willing) of your excellent package!"

"It may interest you to know that we are trying to transfer an A/I [Arc/Info] license from our now-defunct Hong Kong office to this office, and that they are trying to charge us 3000 for the privilege! I somehow think that if I get the money, I won’t be bothering with this option."
 
 

"Thanks for your FAX of Friday with the waybill for our TNTedit. [A name] is looking forward to getting her own copy, although with a bit of trepidation too. I suppose because she knows her workload will about double once she is doing all the printing."

"I wanted to tell you how impressed I was reading through the release notes for 5.8. AT LAST my geological dip and strike symbols, complete with handling of the text label and everything! The query looks a lot more complicated than anything I could have written. I also couldn’t believe it when I saw the routine which minimizes overposting of labels. It really is nice to see one’s requests being dealt with, I have to confess I didn’t hold out much hope based on the initial reaction they received. But you guys, in your usual style, have thought about it quite carefully and produced something that seems to more than meet the requirement. I haven’t tried either of these new things yet. I wanted to adapt your labeling example for geochemical results, basing the ranking on values of Au for instance. When I showed our exploration manager the geological symbols he said ‘so what format do I save my observations in?’. I also took my first look at a couple of the ‘getting started’ booklets and I think they will save a lot of explaining time. I look forward to seeing the one on map projections."

"I am rapidly falling behind with the GIS concepts you are catering for in TNT. Are there any plans afoot for a user’s workshop this year?"

"A colleague of mine here at the [a state organization] just sent a message out to us all that he had written a couple of Arc Avenue codes to automatically change the contrast of a set of DOPs [DOP ?] when displaying them in ArcView. A different [set of] tools is needed for different ways of accessing the set of DOPs."

"Once again, we are writing code for simple functionalites which should exist in the software anyway. But of course, Arc is the biggest and so it is the best right? Wrong! It lit my fire to write the following which I share with you and the TNT crew. It addresses the fact that although Arc/Info has many customization tools, there are still many basic functionalities which it does not have, that everyone in geomatics needs, and so, you end up coding it yourself. There is a BIG difference between the words ‘customization’ and ‘functionality’ when comparing GIS software."

"Bon Apetit!"

[A name]

"TNT Mips V5.8 has been released. The release notes are available on-line. I think you will find them very interesting and I’d like your opinion on any portion of them."

"http://www/microimages.com/relnotes/v58/toc.htm"

"It seem there are very few people interested in fully embracing the future of GIS. When I debate with people about the merits of MicroImages as compared to ESRI or ERDAS I often get a ‘safety in numbers’ type of reply. I see it as ‘misery loves company’."

"By the way, let Terry know that [a name] is enjoying her TNTedit and really making good progress. She is trained in AutoCAD and keeps saying to me ‘this is really a great feature’ as she try’s new things in TNT."

"Just a quick note to say that the new display render to raster, capturing the georeference, is brilliant."

"Having started work with the latest version of your software I now have envious ER-Mapper users hanging around--they simply couldn’t believe MIPS supports GeoFormulas."

"Thank you for your FAX dated on March 16, it was fine. It will be an important tool for me. I think is important you know more about our team. We are geological scientists working in mineral deposits and we are using TNTmips with success. We are going to present a paper about it in the X LATIN-AMERICAN GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS and VI NATIONAL CONGRESS OF ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. This events will be on 8 to 13 November 1998 in Buenos Aires. I think to show the capabilities of TNTmips for geological projects to the geological community. I think it will be a good thing for you and us to continue with our communications."

"Just a note: I had already noticed an improvement in tech support since Jeff Chester appeared. Free Technical Support has always been a reason that I continue to subscribe to and recommend TNTmips. Fortunately, ver. 5.8 is such an improved product over past years that we find less need for support. Thanks for the good word."

"Just getting into GeoFormulae--pretty damn cool, I must say. My question of the day is--what do I need to do to my computer to speed it up (it is not exactly slow at the moment, but I need a good excuse for an upgrade!)--is it more RAM, quicker processor or faster hard disk?"

[Advice was given. Several steps are also planned to improve speed via software improvements.]

"...Well we bought like two years ago I believe three license for TNTmips and I am encharge to work with this wonderful software. ..." [Continues on to request information on how to buy a fourth.]

"It has been quite a while since I have had any contact with you, [your dealer] and the occasional look at your web site has kept me up to date. I am sending this fax to inform you of how we are going and to ask a couple of questions."

"We are currently running V5.80 on a Pentium Pro 200 with 64M of RAM using Windows 95. I have been putting off the move to Windows NT due to the problems with my CD writer and scanning hardware. We plot on a HP 755CM. I work with Landsat TM, SPOT, Magnetic, Radiometric, Aerial Photographs and various kinds of vector data. I interact with MicroStation, ER Mapper and MapInfo regularly. I have had very few problems with MIPS and this set up over the past 18 months and have been very happy with the way things have been performing." [Thank you!]

"Thanks for your help in getting those bugs fixed quickly. The color balance and transparency features are great. Now that TNT can do these things it means I don’t have to export my maps to PhotoShop to make color adjustments on the fly."

"First place I must say that in my opinion ver. 5.8 is the most progressive quarterly upgrade since I use TNTmips." [Goes on to outline a Slovakian language issue.]

"[An associate’s name] is presently on an introductory course in TNTlite, being given by [MicroImages’ dealer] here in Quito. There are about 6 or 8 participants and she seems to be enjoying it."

"I was very proud of myself on Monday when I was able to get a new (second hand) digitizer working with my TNTmips. It is a Genius NewSketch 1812 [Was that the year it was made? An unknown brand to us.] and I finally got it to respond in stream mode using the Summagraphics MM driver, with some modifications to the initialization characters."

"Remember I was having trouble with my 333 MHz Pentium II [a Gateway] freezing up when I drew a zoom box? Well I changed the colour to black as you advised, and haven’t had the problem since. My last machine now [my associate’s] was a 233 Pentium II and the run time for an IHS transformation on 3 bands of TM (114 Mb each band) went from about 4.5 hours [on the 233] to just over 50 minutes [on the 333]. I think the fast (8.4 ms) disk drive has a lot to do with that. Whatever it was, I like it! Regards."
 
 

"We have not been in contact for a long while, but our TNTmips has been in very efficient use all the time. As we are now two in [our company] doing the exploration image processing and GIS work, and the new powerful laptops make it possible to move some of the work out to field, we would need another TNTmips license for our office." [Continues on with details about purchasing a new system.]

"We are handling a set of different vector objects (licenses, seismic lines, wells and so on) extracted from maps with different projects (Gauss Kruger, UTM, Transverse Mercator) and spheroids. How can I convert them into one projection?"

[This is typical of the kind of applications being made. The answer was that you really do not have to, but that it can be done with a few mouse clicks.]

[This was the last of a series of back and forth email support questions from this client, trying to resolve a problem with the DEM/ortho process in TNTmips.]

"However, when I tried to choose File/Exit from the module, ‘an illegal operation’ message occurred. Its detail was always like below. (‘GEOREF caused an invalid page fault error module GEOREF.EXE at 0137:007f99c6 ...’). Those kind of error occurred with 16 and more colors, but not with 8 bit color."

"When I tried with 1 January 98 updated (V5.7 last) Digital Photogrammetric Modeling, module, it was fine with color depths."

"Today, I replaced the CPU, but no change occurred."

"Then I replaced the motherboard, but no change."

"Finally, I replaced the video card from Millennium to #9 Motion 771, then no above mentioned error appeared."

"When I replaced the CPU, motherboard and Millennium again to the initial combinations (caused error until this morning) again, NO ERROR MESSAGE came out!"

"I can’t understand what happened to the computer, but I guess some screws were loose? or play and play setting was changed?"

"Anyway, I have no trouble with the Digital Photogrametric Modeling module now."

"Thank a lot for your support!"

[Sure sounds like a loose video display board at this point. Software is very good at indicating hardware errors, but not so good at telling you what they are.]

[An order was just placed for five TNTmips and one TNTview via an international dealer for a particular large organization. A single unit was already being actively used in that organization, so that client was asked if he was responsible for these additional sales. His answer follows.]

"Yep--it was me. I’m responsible for GIS in our Northern Eurasia region and we’ve basically gone with on copy of TNT each for two offices in our Central Asia subregion--[names two towns], one in [a region], and two more in our [a city] office, for the people that work for me, so that they can do more of the grunt work and I can get on with data management, which is becoming a headache!"

"I sold TNT to the managers on the basis of price, ease-of-use, performance, the fact that it could import/export to Arc format (!) and on it’s map projection capabilities, which are really second-to-none. One of the biggest reasons that I support the products is because of the support that you give the products--the new features that I’ve requested have, in general, been implemented almost immediately--the bugs fixed almost immediately--the technical support is just great. The ‘Getting Started’ guides are great too."

"We decided to trial TNTview for fieldwork in the [a name] desert--we’re going to have a go at using the GPS tracking functions to plot the geo’s position on the TM data."

"Hopefully these sites will all prove successful and we can go forward with the product."

[It is obviously very important that complex software such as the TNT products get the best support possible. After all, working with our clients is how MicroImages learns what the software should be doing and if it actually can do it. One guiding principle of MicroImages since its founding is "complex software will have errors, it’s how they get fixed that ultimately counts!"]

"I have received yesterday the kit of TNTlite and I am very much looking forward to use it. I am also in touch with [a name] from Bratislava. We are recently preparing a program for study of archaeological remains in Kutna Hora region and hopefully the software of TNT will help us very much."

"Thank you so much for responding to me so quickly and thoroughly. I really respect a company that puts customers needs first. You did not give me too much info as you had thought. You gave me a perfect amount. You have made my future decision much easier. Thanks again and I look forward to doing business with MicroImages in the future."

[This is a complete posting, which was in response to a posting from someone else who tried TNTlite on the Mac and who criticized the TNTmips X interface.]

"On one hand it is nice to have a program what uses X-windows Motif on all platforms it runs on--on the other hand, as [a name] said, it isn’t a Mac GUI. We have found, though, that one can get used to it after a while. TNTmips/Lite is very powerful and pretty fast on modern PowerMacs--but it sure has a long way to go before it has the functional GUI of something like [a name]."

"As [a name] said, TNTlite is a nice idea for a teaching solution for students and also give students an idea about how GUIs under Motif work. Our main problems with TNTmips is that when we went to check on academic pricing we found them to be well beyond our budget. MicroImages went to the trouble to produce TNTlite but really need to evaluate their academic pricing policy, not all universities are state schools with bottomless budgets." [So use TNTlite, it’s free!]

"All I was trying to say is that some of the ‘big boys’ do have mac executable programs, even it they haven’t invested the time and energy to make them use the Mac GUI. I have always felt that Mac users are used to a level of ease and functionality that one doesn’t see in non-Mac software and so manufacturers avoid our complaints by not trying."

"I have downloaded TNTlite Ver. 5.8 for Linux and installed it on several machines (3 servers), one of which is our instructional server. We are using TNTlite to teach some GIS/Remote-Sensing applications."

"First, let me compliment your company for their policy on making an excellent software package freely available. We are impressed with the software and are using it in several courses. The students also appreciate the capability to install a version that will run on their home computers."

[He continues on to ask about what appears to be a LINUX setup problem on a fourth network server. He came back the next day before we could answer, indicating he had figured it out.]

"[A name] escribe:"

"he usado el paquete TNTmips durante un mes y me parece un excelente sistema de informaction geografica, sobre todo es muy intuitivo y por lo tanto facil de aprendar y usar."

"reciban una cordial felicitacion por su producto y por facilitar al publico el uso su paquete."

[Some questions followed.]

"I am a final year student (at UMIST, Manchester, UK), designing a GIS using TNTlite, aimed at use in wildlife conservation."

"I have added the latest patch [upgrade] for the SML language (16 April 98 upgrade), which seems to give me more control of the forms & dialogs in MI/X. I have also downloaded the precision farming ‘biomass2.sml’ file available in our SML script exchange--which is quite informative... but I find that I need more information than the online function descriptions & ‘Biomass.sml’ can give--such as Tool classes (return types), names & descriptions of member functions of widgets & classes, etc. Is there any documentation available that either I could download, or you could send me--obviously if will warrant a mention in my project write up! (I know I’m not a registered user--but I hope you can help me!)"

[Again, here is someone who just cannot wait for the features being added via SML. The 70 or so classes being referenced here were only added to TNTmips about a month ago, and the on-line references in SML are only now being written.]
 
 

"I have heard many good things about TNT products and would like to experiment with TNTlite to assess whether TNT Professional might help reduce our dependence on ARC/INFO."

[Received on 28 May 1998 at 1:50 PM]

"I’m interested in receiving information on TNTmips. My research at the University of [a name] included Site Specific Pest Management (insects). This involves construction spatio-temporal maps of insect populations in agricultural areas. I’m currently using Arc/Info & ArcView but I’ve heard some good things from colleagues in other areas of entomology who are using TNTmips."

"I’m especially interested in importing raster based data in the form of both satellite and aerial photography & video to serve as base layers. What file formats does TNTmips support for import? What about other data formats (DLG, DEM, etc.)."

"Other questions…..What about exploring or importing Arc/Info coverages? Will TNTmips import Arc/Info e00 files?" [Some additional questions followed.]

[These and other questions were all answered in the affirmative by Kevin Royal. We recommended that he download TNTlite, and a TNTlite 5.8 kit was mailed.]

[Received on 29 May 1998]

"Thanks for your prompt responses--I downloaded TNTlite yesterday afternoon (I noticed it on the web site after I e-mailed MicroImages) . I’ll try out the tutorials and apply it to some of my data and get some feeling for the software. I have to compliment MicroImages--making 100 Mb of program, manual and data available for free download is an aggressive and innovative marketing strategy to say the least. I’m also very impressed with the concept of providing a fully-featured version of a GIS for teaching. Limiting dataset size and not features is a definite way to get this product established in the classroom."

"I’ll be teaching a course in GIS either this fall or winter at [a university] (a small satellite campus of the [a major university] adjacent to the Experiment station where I am officed). I’ll also likely be eventually developing and teaching a ‘GIS in Entomology’ course to be distance delivered back to my home department in [a city]. I’d be interested in discussing the potential of serving TNTlite over a Novell based LAN for classes."

"Thanks again. I’ll likely have questions as I go through the program."

"In response to your letter dated 28 Nov. 1997 you find the answer of your questions which includes short informations about our work and the GIS situation in the field of hydrology and water supply."

"1. I am using TNTmips daily and really intensively. For this reason I developed my own strategies to avoid and to solve problems. So I need software support only by solving very special problems like the watershed problem, if you remember. On the other side the last TNTmips releases became more and more stable and the number of bugs decreased."

"Our TNTmips clients are using TNTmips on a similar field as [our firm] and I am able to support them basing on my great treasure of experiences without contacting your software support."

"2. This year like the years before we completed a lot of projects by using TNTmips and we can say that our clients, which are hopefully soon also TNTmips users and this way also your clients, are very content and enthusiastic, when we presenting our work by computer performance or when they get nice maps produced by TNTmips. TNTmips is our most used software product, except the word processor. We need TNTmips for all kinds of catching, keeping and showing any kinds of areally distributed data:

[Other sections follow on technical issues.]

"I hope you see our efforts and our special problems promoting TNTmips and you see as well that I love my TNTmips."

"[A name] of this university has several GIS systems already, such as SPANS, ARCVIEW, ARC/INFO, ERmapper, IDRISI, AtlasGIS (dead software), MapInfo. SPANS seems a main software (= often used) for them. He is not satisfied with these and he is thinking of buying next systems."

"Request 1 He asked for pricing to buy the following 30 sets of MIPS at the same time. How much is it considering academic discount?--D40(30), X3(30), P8(28), P15(2), A10/D(30)."

"Request 2 And he asked if serial keys are available. Because of so many software [products] and so many hardware keys are occupying the parallel port and oftenly conflicting. So he wants to use the vacant serial port. Machine[s are] Windows 95 or NT. If costed, please add on [this kind of key] to the above estimate." [And he could replace all those products and keys with single TNTmips keys--TNTmips is a single product that encompasses the functionality of all the products listed above].

"PS. He knows TNTlite from your home page. His final choice may be 30 sets of TNTlite is my guess." [Ouch!]

[The following is concerning a university department teaching photogrammetry and related subjects with a single Helava system which requires an upgrade. They are evaluating TNTmips as a possible alternative to the upgrade. This would provide an approach which allows more student access via TNTlite than via the single expensive Helava system.]

"They [university department] are currently refining the tie points for the generation of the DEM [via TNTmips]. They have already generated a DEM but want to learn how you can get a better one by playing around with triangle sizes, number of iterations, placing more manually, etc. I talked to [another TNTmips user] today and he said that he has compared results from TNTmips with results from Helava using identical data and come up with comparable end products. So he is confident in offering a digital ortho which is as good as what you will get from Helava. This says a lot for the process in TNTmips. Dmitry has done good! I will get [the university user] to ring the [client] next week."

[To the best of our knowledge, the basic Helava system, including hardware, is US$60,000, and the annual maintenance of the software for this basic system is US$3,000, which includes upgrades.]

"At first I will congratulate U and the others of MicroImages to your so fantastic Version 5.8!! Its really great and much better than the former Versions, especially talking about the new possibilities in 3D-Modelling and GPS. Now we can really forget about ERDAS and ARC here in [our nation]. !!!" [I like the word fantastic!]

"As a last thing we would like to make a compliment to the staff of MicroImages, Inc.. The 1 April update of TNTedit for Windows NT is the most stable and reliable we ever worked with. No more troubles with topology errors. It is really great and speeds up our work very much."

"We are looking forward to the release of TNTmips V5.90! Have you got any information on the release date for TNTmips V5.9?"

[This inquiry arrived eight weeks after this party received V5.80. Periodically we get suggestions about abandoning our quarterly (sometimes three times a year) release policy. But, about eight to ten weeks into the use of a new version, we begin to receive a larger number of inquiries along the lines of that above from those eager to get the next batch of improvements.]

[Of course, this dealer can download a beta version of his TNT product and try out the new features at this eight to ten week point. Some clients download a particular process they are experimenting with once or twice and week and go back and forth with us via email suggesting improvements. Other clients will download all of TNTmips periodically. While this is slow, it works and can be set up as an automated, overnight process. Some weeks there are as many as 70 downloads of TNTlite, which is equal in size to the professional versions. Of course, downloading all of a beta version requires reliable network connections.]

"Seems like [a client’s name] has been happily using DOS MIPS all these years without feeling the need to upgrade until [another client’s name] subcontracted with them to do work on [a project] and lent them a V5.8 key to do it. ... He has also used other products (ArcInfo and ArcView) and rates Mips/TNTmips as way ahead of these other products in functionality, versatility, and ease of use. [They] use TNTmips/MIPS to get the job done and then ‘export’ to this other systems for their clients. TNTmips is even the CAD system of their choice." [DOS MIPS does have longevity! This client must have changed his computer several times.]

...[Unrelated sections skipped.]

"One thing he said to [us] which may also enlighten you about some of the problems we are experiencing here re: selling of TNTmips is that he [the client above] thought that ‘TNTmips is an extremely sophisticated product and selling such a product to the largely unsophisticated [nation’s] GIS market can’t be an easy task.’ The [nation’s] market thinks that ArcView is GIS (and ESRI has capitalized on this uninformed opinion). If it wasn’t for this view and the huge sales of ArcView in [this nation] over the past two years, I doubt very much whether [the ESRI dealer] would have survived."

...[Unrelated sections skipped.]

"TNTmips now has the best functionality/integration/interface/power that any other high level software (and the best price), so I think that in this market group we need to advertise it more, and to go to actual users of Arc/Info (mainly) and show them the potential of TNTmips, also to talk about hardware requirements, upgrades, and maintenance costs, among others. In [our nation] the main Arc/Info users are City Cadastre Agencies, and for managers the cost of hardware/software upgrades is very high, so this looks like a good market for TNTmips."

"In the second category (users), TNTview is the product that has to face the competition, which at this time is MapInfo 4.1 and ArcView 3.0. To compare against them TNTview 5.8 is great because it has much more power with the addition of SML, 3D, and GPS connectivity, and with the new interface is much easier to manipulate. This product, besides the additions that you already are considering to put in version 5.9, as to case a legend addition process [Sorry, now V6.00] and report production, might need only the editor or icons and toolbars where you can locate SML icons and processes. I believe that with this new TNTview, dealers are very well supported to best any competition in this sector of the market."

"I think that TNT products in v.5.8 are really good, and we can see easily that the whole software was restructured based not only in the new interface but in the size of the packages. TNTview and TNTmips decreased their needed space in hard drive by about 25% and 18% respectively. This is a big difference with any other software which instead of decreasing its size it needs more and more hard drive space, reviewing the actual or past structure of the software. This means that MicroImages is really optimizing the software while most software companies are not."

"During our visit to [a city], we were invited to a [large mining corporation] to assess their needs. They’d had a firm [in the city] do a report on setting up a spatial database/GIS/CAD system on [their business], and advising them on how to streamline their spatial data capture/analysis operations. Fortunately, they could spot a bad job here--they showed us the report at the end of our visit--17 pages of utter hogwash, recommending that they would have to use the following systems:

"We went through their operations step-by-step and were able to assess that they need only:

"This less-fragmented solution had them really excited. They can’t believe TNTmips will really replace so many systems and do all these things for them. They have, however accepted my proposal, and will be visiting us in the last of June with examples of their datasets. We will model this data in TNTmips, and demonstrate to them how they can speed up and improve on their methodology, using TNTmips."

"I am editor in PC Chip, Croatian computer magazine (monthly). I think your products are interesting, and would like to write about them. I’ve seen TNTlite, and will probably write an article about it in one of the next issues. Is there any essential difference between lit and professional products? We would like to include TNTlite on our CD-ROM (Win 95 an Linux versions, maybe Intel/NT and MacOS too), if you agree."

"I’m a Freelance Journalist and currently writing an article on X-Servers for Win95. The article will be published in the 04/98 edition of ‘PC Online’ (with about 60,000 copies sold each month, which is quite good for Germany). In this article I will introduce your software MI/X to our readers. For this purpose I would ask your permission to put the trial version [guess he doesn’t understand "free"] of the program onto the CD-ROM accompanying the journal."

"When the article is published, I could send you an electronic copy (PDF-Format) of it. It will be written in German, though. Please let me know, if you are interested."

"I am the editor of ‘How to install NetBSD for mac68k’. This book is going to publish for mac users next month. We want to including many applications with CD-ROM."

"I have a favor to ask you. Please give us approval to include MI/X into our CD-ROM. If it is possible, let us know about condition." [NetBSD is a version of UNIX for the 68xxx based Mac. Permission was given.]

"We received your FAX last week. I am very glad to see it. Our book ‘How to Install NetBSD for mac68K’ publish only in Japan. (sorry). I will send you our book as sample next month. And we want to include MI/X for mac68K, PPC, 85/NT. (I am using MI/X on my Mac, it’s very great). We promise to state the information in your FAX into the book and CD-ROM. Thank you for your consideration."

"Cit magazine, the leading German computer technology magazine [400,000 subscribers], will publish a report on shareware, freeware and public domain software. Your program, ‘MI/X’ has been preselected to be included in this report."

"We intend to distributed all reviewed software on a free CD-ROM which will be shipped together with the magazine (price: 5 DM, approx. 3 US-$). A smaller selection of the software will also be distributed on a free CD-ROM together with the Dutch issue of our magazine (price: 9.95 HFL, approx. 5.50 US-$)." [Continues on requesting permission to use.]

"Just a small note to say WOW!... The MI/X works pretty well. I am using it to get back into one of our servers from an NT Workstation machine. Snappy, clean and it’s ‘Almost like being there’. Thanks for the software!"

"Hi. MI/X is really nice, works well, especially for free... :)"

"I just wanted to say THANKS for your free X server. It really helped me a lot with our mixed NT/Win95/Mac/Unix network."

"Thanks for making mi/x available to the public, for free."

"I’ve downloaded your MI/X for Win NT and I want to tell you I think it’s great software."
 
 

"Thank you for the FreeWare X-server. It gives me the possibility to practice what I need to know at home without buying a lot of expensive Software. (On Linux from W95) I have tried Reflection-X and it has some advantages in the availability of fonts but it also has disadvantages in the recognition of key-combination-strokes. You did a very good job. Thank you."

"Hi there. I am Sune Lilbeak, a Danish journalist and student at a technical university. I’ve been working with MI/X for MacOS for a while, and it is great, simply great. Even better...it is free :)"

"Didn’t know who to send this to... This software ROCKS... oh my God... I mean... I’d *pay* for this program... Wow, great job! thank you so much!"

"Hello MicroImages--THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR MI/X"

"Hi. First of all, my heartiest compliments on a wonderful product!!!"

"Hello to the MicroImages team, yesterday I downloaded your MI/X. It worked out of the box and is great fun. Thank you."

"This software package is really a great deal, I remember I had to play around with configuration and readme files with comparable (commercial) products, but this one was running after 5 minutes."

"Hey, Good job. This is the coolest software I’ve found in quite a while. Me and a few LINUX followers have been looking for a program like yours for quite a while."

"I just wanted to say thanks for mi/x. I’m not using it for any of your products (or with any of your competitors :). It’s been great for letting me connect to my ultra at work, and I’ve saved a bundle by not having to buy macx. I wish I had a use for one of your products just to give you guys some compensation. Anyway, thanks for making a mac version, and thanks for making it free."

"Jeff, thank for your incredibly fast response. Really amazing, if you consider that this is a free program. Keep up the good work, Gilbert."
 
 

"I just wanted to say thanks for making available your MI/X server. I am a unix consultant, forced to use a win95 laptop, and this thing makes my life *so* much easier. I am also able to run CDE with very few problems through if, fyi."

"Again, thank you so much for making such a well done, professional product available to the public. I show this to all people with an interest, and the general consensus is that it is more ‘useable’ than Exceed, or other packages available."