Invitrogen has announced an "Open Access policy" for its latest software. From today's press release:
Invitrogen Corporation..., a leading life sciences company with a broad portfolio of technologies to improve and accelerate biomedical research, drug discovery and commercial bioproduction, today announced the release of its latest technology and eScience contribution to the life sciences, Vector NTI Advance(TM) 10. Centering on its award-winning Vector NTI(R) sequence analysis software, Vector NTI Advance(TM) 10 is the latest Windows(R) version of this application. To coincide with the release, Invitrogen is also launching the Vector NTI(R) Open Access policy and the online Vector NTI(R) User Community. The Open Access policy allows researchers in not-for-profit laboratories to obtain their own annual, renewable licenses of Vector NTI(R) at no cost. The Vector NTI(R) User Community is designed to be the online meeting place for researchers to acquire the latest versions of the software, obtain technical resources, and ultimately communicate with Invitrogen and other users on all aspects of the software and its uses.
(PS: I don't normally blog news about free software. It's a good neighbor, but I already have more than enough OA news to cover. I blog this news, though, to show how the term "open access" is being used for software when "free" and "open source" don't quite apply.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/28/2005 11:07:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
