Paul and Jeremy
I agree! We are also a medium sized non-genomic core lab and have just recently
purchased a 3100. The instrument works well and generates nice sequence but the
software could use lots of improvement, especially the user interface and data
analysis sides. Overall the software is written from a software engineer's or
IT professional's perspective and not from a scientist's/customer's. Because we
are a mixed platform lab (two 377's + one 3100, four Mac's + one NT) file
conversion/analysis issues are very important to us. Only being able to analyze
3100 data on a NT means we have to scan each sequence generated on the 3100 on
the NT computer before distributing the data. And the NT to MAC file conversion
applescript provided by ABI are inadequate. They don't address converting text
files so we have to use MacLinkPlus to convert the PC text files to MAC text
files. And I had to rewrite the conversion applescript to correct the file
names as well as change the file type and creator codes. These solutions work,
but mean we are spending considerably more time every day looking at files than
we should have to. So far my requests to ABI to address these concerns have
gone unanswered. Clearly ABI isn't interested in investing resources to solving
these smaller customer/ MAC based problems. That's too bad since they have a
pretty good reputation for customer service and a large installed base of
customers operating less that cutting edge technology.
Scott D. Langdon Ph.D.
DNA Sequencing Facility
Duke University
Box 3010 DUMC
Durham, NC 27710
Langd002@mc.duke.edu
(919) 668-5128
FAX (919) 684-8982
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 23 2001 - 13:03:34 EST