[time-nuts] Stable32 now available

[Tom Van Baak]

I asked Bill for clarification and here's some of what he shared:

> Tom:
>
> I’m glad that the word is getting out that Stable32 is now freely available.

> The Version 1.62 that is available for download from the IEEE UFFC site is
> identical to the last commercial Version 1.61 except for its UFFC labeling.
> It is a Windows installation file with the executable, ancillary files and
> documentation just like the commercial installation download or CD-ROM.
> The printed User Manual can still be bought as before.

> My donation to the IEEE UFFC included all source code, and it is up to them
> to decide whether and how to make it available.  That has not yet been done.

> My motivation was to see that it lived at least in its present form without
> my having to remain involved.  I will continue to support the commercial
> version for a year more, but not the free one.

> The IEEE UFFC Stable32 distribution is  released under a form of the “MIT
> License” which is as free as can be.  That was made possible last year by
> Scientific Endeavors Corporation who agreed to end my obligations under a
> royalty payment agreement for the GraphiC scientific plotting functions that
> Stable32 uses.  No other such issues exist for the Stable32 distribution, so
> it became possible to make it free.

> The Stable32 source code is organized into two basic parts, the top-level Windows
> user interface and a DLL that contains the core analysis functionality.  It is
> likely that the latter is the more valuable for future versions and other purposes.
> For example, I have ported that Windows FrequenC.dll (which is distributed with
> Stable32) to Linux as a libfrequenc.so shared object library that can be used by
> GCC/G++.  I have also created a wrapper function for that so it can be used with
> Python.  I hope to make these (and the critical FrequenC function documentation)
> available soon.

> I hope this explains things a bit.  The Stable32 distribution package is now freely
> available for all to use.  The Stable32 source code is under the control of the
> IEEE UFFC AdCom.  I plan to make the core Stable32  FrequenC Library documentation
> and functionality available for Windows, Linux and Python.
>
> Best regards,
> Bill Riley

My comments:

1) I use both Stable32 and TimeLab equally; and now that Stable32 is free, everyone can now enjoy both of them too. They overlap somewhat, but each has its own set of strengths and target audience. Both show evolutionary bloat by now but for the small subset of features one typically uses the learning curve is not high. Each includes a comprehensive user guide. Both are native Windows apps, and run under emulation on Unix.

2) Bill is already working the issues of github / open source / licensing / tool chain / cross-platform support so we should hear further developments over the next year. I was especially happy to hear about his plans for Python. So hang on a while for the open source part; for now enjoy your free copy of Stable32. And for those of you not familiar with Bill's career of time & frequency work please make a point to browse the papers on his http://wriley.com (or http://stable32.com mirror).

/tvb