PixInsight 1.8 — Codename "Ripley"

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Sander, Andrés, Julian, Harry, and all,

Thank you so much for your support. If only all users (potential and current) had the same vision... Unfortunately, things are not so easy for me. PI has to compete hard with other products, and this is a very small market. PI has to evolve or die, it's just that simple. And now we have to move fast.

[Juan Conejero]

Then the second question -  will force my commercial license to use PixInsight 1.8?

As all PixInsight users, including commercial and trial licenses, you'll have full and completely free access to version 1.8 for all supported platforms. This is what our EULA says, and you can read the same also in FAQ 2.13:

http://pixinsight.com/faq/

When we release the next version, you won't need to do anything with your license at all; just uninstall version 1.7 and install 1.8.

[pavel]

Everything just perfect-I was, is and will be with PixInsight!
Sincerely, Pavel.

[Graham]

I would like to echo the sentiment expressed by the others in this thread. I am a massive fan of PixInsight.

I was very entrenched in another program(won't mention any names, but it starts with P, too ) and a friend of mine kept using PI, so when I went over his place to help him, I had to learn PI. I then bought a copy myself and do everything I can in PI. I still have a few tricks to learn, so when the release is ready, I might be too.

Great program, keep up the great work! 

[RBA]

Any new features/improvements you may want to talk about besides the ones you've already mentioned? (file explorer, etc)

[Carlos Milovic]

As Juan told me, there are major news for PCL developers... just wait PI 1.8 is around the corner.

[RBA]

As Juan told me, there are major news for PCL developers... just wait PI 1.8 is around the corner.

Some new programming language optimized for all things image processing... Juan++ or something....

[Carlos Milovic]

XD

No, just PCL 2.0, with new threading capabilities, and major changes in the way images are handled. Also it will be released as open source.

[georg.viehoever]

... Also it will be released as open source.

I have some questions about this:

What are the intended purposes of PCL being Open Source?
- is it just open source (meaning you can read the source, but you cannot use it for other (closed source/commercial) products, such as MySql http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/index.html), or Open Source as in http://opensource.org/docs/osd (meaning that you release the source and have no restrictions on its use)?
- Will it be possible (technically and legally) to use PCL without PixInsight (for instance with some other image processing software)?
- Is the intention to be able to use PCL with GPLed software - without disclosing the source of PI?
- Is the intention to encourage other developers to contribute to PCL?

Georg

[Juan Conejero]

- is it just open source (meaning you can read the source, but you cannot use it for other (closed source/commercial) products, such as MySql http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/index.html), or Open Source as in http://opensource.org/docs/osd (meaning that you release the source and have no restrictions on its use)?

No restrictions at all. The PCL license allows you to develop open and closed source, free and commercial products with PCL. As long as you respect the four conditions in the PCL license, you are free to release your PCL-based product under any license of your choice.

- Will it be possible (technically and legally) to use PCL without PixInsight (for instance with some other image processing software)?

PCL requires a running PixInsight Core application for most of its image processing functionality (even more in version 2.0), and it is obviously necessary for all module-related and GUI functionality. However you can link the PCL static library with an application and, as long as you don't use any functionality requiring the low-level API, it should work. In fact, we use PCL in some code maintenance command-line utilities, and the three auxiliary applications that implement PI's update system are also linked to PCL in this way. The PCL license is no legal obstacle.

- Is the intention to be able to use PCL with GPLed software - without disclosing the source of PI?

I really am not sure. Since the PixInsight Core application is proprietary / closed source, and PCL depends on it, you probably cannot use anything infected with GPL in a PixInsight module, even if you release your source code. However this is a complex case, and the opinion of somebody with legal knowledge (and experience in software licensing issues) would be very welcome. For example, there is no problem with GPLed software on Windows. But of course, Windows is extremely important for the FSF while a project like PI simply does not exist.

- Is the intention to encourage other developers to contribute to PCL?

Absolutely! This is one of my *main* intentions

[Kuulapaa]

As all PixInsight users, including commercial and trial licenses, you'll have full and completely free access to version 1.8 for all supported platforms. This is what our EULA says, and you can read the same also in FAQ 2.13:

http://pixinsight.com/faq/

When we release the next version, you won't need to do anything with your license at all; just uninstall version 1.7 and install 1.8.

Commercial users have access to all software updates for PixInsight version 1.x at no charge.

I'm about to buy Pixinsight license but have one doubt regarding what I read above.

Does this mean that when new 2.0 version comes out then all previous 1.x license owners are unable to update free and need to buy new 2.x?
What is your plan regarding Pixinsight future development?

[Cheyenne]

I'm about to buy Pixinsight license but have one doubt regarding what I read above.

Does this mean that when new 2.0 version comes out then all previous 1.x license owners are unable to update free and need to buy new 2.x?
What is your plan regarding Pixinsight future development?

From my understanding, you get free upgrades within a major release (free upgrades within 1.x, and when 2.x comes out there will be free upgrades within the 2.x series -- assuming they follow the same license).  There will be an upgrade fee from 1.x to 2.x, and I believe it will depend on how old the 1.x license is.  For example, if you just bought a 1.7 license and tomorrow they came out with 2.0, there would be a nominal upgrade fee, if however you had started with a 1.0 license, then you would have to pay more.  -- Again this is what I understand of the licensing agreement.

Now from my standpoint, I will have no problem paying for the upgrade from 1.x to 2.x.  I think of it in terms of the cost of other astronomy equipment that I have purchased.  I have eyepieces that have cost more then the license for PixInsight.  The filters for my camera easily cost more then a PixInsight license.  I view PixInsight as being a part of the equipment needed for doing astrophotography.  I also view that the folks behind PixInsight have done an excellent job of support.  They stand behind their product, they have provided many many new features within the 1.x series.

[Kuulapaa]

I'm about to buy Pixinsight license but have one doubt regarding what I read above.

Does this mean that when new 2.0 version comes out then all previous 1.x license owners are unable to update free and need to buy new 2.x?
What is your plan regarding Pixinsight future development?

From my understanding, you get free upgrades within a major release (free upgrades within 1.x, and when 2.x comes out there will be free upgrades within the 2.x series -- assuming they follow the same license).  There will be an upgrade fee from 1.x to 2.x, and I believe it will depend on how old the 1.x license is.  For example, if you just bought a 1.7 license and tomorrow they came out with 2.0, there would be a nominal upgrade fee, if however you had started with a 1.0 license, then you would have to pay more.  -- Again this is what I understand of the licensing agreement.

Now from my standpoint, I will have no problem paying for the upgrade from 1.x to 2.x.  I think of it in terms of the cost of other astronomy equipment that I have purchased.  I have eyepieces that have cost more then the license for PixInsight.  The filters for my camera easily cost more then a PixInsight license.  I view PixInsight as being a part of the equipment needed for doing astrophotography.  I also view that the folks behind PixInsight have done an excellent job of support.  They stand behind their product, they have provided many many new features within the 1.x series.

Thanks, we're playing just with assumptions though. What do developers say?
What plans do you have for major update?

Numbers run out soon with this update pace

[Andres.Pozo]

Numbers run out soon with this update pace

I don't know if the numbers are running so fast. These are the release dates of the main versions of PixInsight:

• 1.1.0: 2008-04-18
• 1.2.0: 2008-07-17
• 1.3.0: 2008-11-16
• 1.4.0: 2008-12-08
• 1.5.0: 2009-05-13
• 1.6.0: 2010-04-08
• 1.7.0: 2011-05-30

The numbers ran very fast at the beginning (2008), but in the last two years the numbering has slowed a lot.

[Carlos Milovic]

The 1.8.x cycle will start in a few days (or couple of weeks) and most probably will last 6 months or a bit more. I don't believe that the 1.9.x cycle will be any shorter, so the major change to 2.0.x won't happen at least in a year, most probably at the middle of 2014.