[Bioperl-l] [Fwd: Enquiry about Remoteblast.pm]

[Robert Bradbury]

Sorry, yes I too was reading quickly and not separating RemoteBlast from
Eutilities requirements.

With respect to "hostility", I do agree Chris that NCBI has provided a great
service over the years (I've used it for over 15 as I'm sure many here
have).  However, the recent Javascript requirement (without any apparent
discussion within the user community) has me very annoyed [1].  One could
back it up a level and ask why NCBI doesn't have a "user community forum"
(at least that I'm aware of) or even a bug database (it isn't like putting
up a bugzilla bug database requires all that much work).  Heck, even the
phone companies (whom I consider to be the epitome of bureaucracy) issue me
a trouble ticket # when I have a problem (something to the best of my
knowledge NCBI does not do).

There is also the fact that several months ago when I requested an
explanation for what code/utilities were being used to generate the
Homologene "homology" graphics (so I could consider extending it to other
species, potentially in BioPerl) I was told in unspecific terms that a
variety of utilities were used (and my impression was perhaps an underlying
suggestion that it might be too complicated for me to understand -- but that
could just be subjective impression on my part).  [Of course such a response
doesn't fit well my perspective of "open government".)

Robert

1. There are a long list of reasons why Javascript is bad ranging from
increasing memory and CPU requirements on the end user (one cannot run
hundreds of open PubMed tabs, as I often may when doing research, on an
"average" machine if all the tabs are running Javascript, downloading and
running lots of Javascripts can hardly be considered "green", Javascript
doesn't work in the lightest weight browsers such as Dillo, Javascript
decreases the reliability and security of the browser, excessive reliance on
Javascript may decrease web access for individuals with disabilities
(potentially in violation of current laws I suspect), etc.)