Subject: [Open Babel] Open Babel and CML in the news (fwd from geoff >< geoffhutchison.net)

From: Eugen Leitl <eugen >< leitl.org>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:06:12 +0100

----- Forwarded message from Geoff Hutchison <geoff >< geoffhutchison.net> ---

From: Geoff Hutchison <geoff >< geoffhutchison.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 14:43:55 -0500
To: openbabel-discuss >< lists.sourceforge.net,
	cml-discuss >< lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [Open Babel] Open Babel and CML in the news
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.619.2)

CML and Open Babel have been in the news recently, and not just with 
talks at the ACS meeting.

For one, I was just told that a recent issue of Drug Discovery Today 
had a pro/con debate about open-source software. Both sides made 
reference to Babel -- Matt Stahl of the "con" position referred to it 
as OELib. (Freudian slip, perhaps? Open Babel is not OELib any longer 
-- there have been many changes.)

DeLano, Warren L.; Drug Discovery Today (2005) 10(3) p. 213-217.
"The case for open-source software in drug discovery"
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6446(04)03363-X

Stahl, Matthew T.; Drug Discovery Today (2005) 10(3) p. 219-222.
"Open-source software: not quite endsville"
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6446(04)03364-1

By far the more interesting news, I think, is the report from the 
Chemistry division of the NSF on "Cyber Enabled Chemistry." A recent 
NSF-sponsored workshop on facilitating chemistry research using 
"cyberinfrastructure" had the following in the final report:
http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/faculty/cyber_workshop/report_cyber_solu.html

> Finally, models, algorithms and software must be carefully 
>integrated. Common component architectures, common interfaces, and 
>inter-language ?translators,? for example, will facilitate software 
>integration and interoperability; while better methods of integrating 
>I/O, standardized formats for input (such as babel and CML), and 
>error/accuracy assessments within a framework will facilitate 
>integration. We encourage the support, development, and integration of 
>public-domain community codes and, in particular, the solving of 
>associated problems such as long-term maintenance, intellectual 
>property, and tutorial development (with recognition of the varying 
>expertise of likely users).

Cheers,
-Geoff

----- End forwarded message -----