Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
The guys who write PI are astronomers and computer scientists so they use the technical nomenclature they are used to. I don't think it's an intentional elitist thing. That "star rounder" is actually a generic shape changer and the name reflects that.
Its more about being able to communicate clearly to the user. Its not their strong point and often isn't in the software world.
It is a difficult problem as you need to create new words to match their tools yet stay in communication with their users. Some do it better than others but I'd say here its quite a barrier to their program being used universally.
Agree that the non-native interface is a PITA to start with. It's a consequence of making PI portable to operating systems other than Windows (how many other applications do you know that run on Windows, OS X, Linux and BSD Unix?) The Photoshop GUI is similarly unlike anything else in Windows but we forget that because we're used to it.
I am not being critical of their interface, rather its simply different and is a barrier in itself as clicking those little symbols does not really reveal what they do. PS has sliders and a simple checkbox for preview so you can muck around with it and get some sort of a feel for it easily. As you say having it work in different operating systems no doubt is a feat of computer engineering. But surely the vast bulk of astrophotographers are Windows based or perhaps some are Mac users. Limux? Would that be a professional observatory or someone who uses Linux in their career?
Anyway, I think your idea for the thread is good, Greg, and I'm happy to chime in from time to time if you want. If not, I'll just lurk and bite my tongue 
Cheers,
Rick. |
Of course you are welcome as our local PI expert and all round good guy!
Greg.