who decides what is next?

[gabibau]

Hi there!

I'm analyzing software for a new project on my company and the idea of using
ImageJ came up.
Although, it's not clear form me how the developers community is organized.
So, could some of you tell me
how it works?
Who decides what is going to be implemented next?
Who has permission to add (or change) code?
Is there a leader? Some formal hierarchy?

The disclaimer mentions "an employee" of Federal Government. And it's all I
know...

Sorry if it's a unusual question, but I really need this information and I
could nor find it anywhere.

--
Gabriela Bauermann
Santa Maria /RS /Brasil

[Michael Herron]

Total anarchy  :^)


On Mar 7, 2009, at 3:29 PM, Gabriela Bauermann wrote:

> Hi there!
>
> I'm analyzing software for a new project on my company and the idea  
> of using
> ImageJ came up.
> Although, it's not clear form me how the developers community is  
> organized.
> So, could some of you tell me
> how it works?
> Who decides what is going to be implemented next?
> Who has permission to add (or change) code?
> Is there a leader? Some formal hierarchy?
>
> The disclaimer mentions "an employee" of Federal Government. And  
> it's all I
> know...
>
> Sorry if it's a unusual question, but I really need this  
> information and I
> could nor find it anywhere.
>
> --
> Gabriela Bauermann
> Santa Maria /RS /Brasil

[Joris FA Meys]

I'm not involved directly, but I'll give it a shot :

Wayne Rasband is the developer of ImageJ, and he did so at the NIH. As far
as I know, it's maintained and updated by a team of programmers at the NIH.
They will definitely be able to tell you more about it.

But as ImageJ is in the public domain (under the GNU license I believe),
anybody can alter the code as they please, provided you give the right to do
that to anybody who you give access to your own altered code, and mention
the authors of the original program. So you cannot use ImageJ in programs
you develop yourself and sell to customers afterwards.

With ImageJ, there is actually not really a need to alter the code. You can
add any functionality you want by writing plugins. Anybody with Java
programming skills is able to do that.

For all legal questions, I think you better contact the NIH yourself (You
can use [hidden email] , the e-mail mentioned on the ImageJ webpage).

Kind regards
Joris

On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:29 PM, Gabriela Bauermann <[hidden email]>wrote:

> Hi there!
>
> I'm analyzing software for a new project on my company and the idea of
> using
> ImageJ came up.
> Although, it's not clear form me how the developers community is organized.
> So, could some of you tell me
> how it works?
> Who decides what is going to be implemented next?
> Who has permission to add (or change) code?
> Is there a leader? Some formal hierarchy?
>
> The disclaimer mentions "an employee" of Federal Government. And it's all I
> know...
>
> Sorry if it's a unusual question, but I really need this information and I
> could nor find it anywhere.
>
> --
> Gabriela Bauermann
> Santa Maria /RS /Brasil
>

[gabibau]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the open and the direct replies.
You gave me all the information that I needed.

Gabriela Bauermann
Santa Maria /RS /Brasil

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 10:47 AM, joris meys <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I'm not involved directly, but I'll give it a shot :
>
> Wayne Rasband is the developer of ImageJ, and he did so at the NIH. As far
> as I know, it's maintained and updated by a team of programmers at the NIH.
> They will definitely be able to tell you more about it.
>
> But as ImageJ is in the public domain (under the GNU license I believe),
> anybody can alter the code as they please, provided you give the right to
> do
> that to anybody who you give access to your own altered code, and mention
> the authors of the original program. So you cannot use ImageJ in programs
> you develop yourself and sell to customers afterwards.
>
> With ImageJ, there is actually not really a need to alter the code. You can
> add any functionality you want by writing plugins. Anybody with Java
> programming skills is able to do that.
>
> For all legal questions, I think you better contact the NIH yourself (You
> can use [hidden email] , the e-mail mentioned on the ImageJ webpage).
>
> Kind regards
> Joris
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:29 PM, Gabriela Bauermann <[hidden email]
> >wrote:
>
> > Hi there!
> >
> > I'm analyzing software for a new project on my company and the idea of
> > using
> > ImageJ came up.
> > Although, it's not clear form me how the developers community is
> organized.
> > So, could some of you tell me
> > how it works?
> > Who decides what is going to be implemented next?
> > Who has permission to add (or change) code?
> > Is there a leader? Some formal hierarchy?
> >
> > The disclaimer mentions "an employee" of Federal Government. And it's all
> I
> > know...
> >
> > Sorry if it's a unusual question, but I really need this information and
> I
> > could nor find it anywhere.
> >
> > --
> > Gabriela Bauermann
> > Santa Maria /RS /Brasil
> >
>

[Albert Cardona]

> Thanks everyone for the open and the direct replies.
> You gave me all the information that I needed.


The information you have received is wrong:

* ImageJ license: public domain

* ImageJ only developer: Wayne Rasband at the Research Service Branch, NIH
(USA).

* ImageJ contributors: anyone that can convince Wayne he has something
valuable to add. In practice, it means code that is public domain, that
does not break any existing code (either at core or plugins), and that is
generally well written and documented, and of reasonably general purpose.

* ImageJ programming languages: mainly java, also macros (ImageJ macro
language), but now also javascript (referred to as "scripting" in ImageJ
web pages).

Keep in mind that any language supported by the Java Virtual Machine can be
used to for ImageJ-related programming. This includes javascript, clojure
(a full replacement for java), jython, jruby, beanshell, groovy, and scala
(there are a few others). And also, via the JNI (java native interface) and
the JNA (java native access), any C/C++ and any other object-code compiled
program with a public API.

Some of the above languages are directly supported by the ImageJ packaged
distribution fiji, available at http:/pacific.mpi-cbg.de, along with
numerous libraries, tutorials and documentation.

Hope that helps.

Albert
--
Albert Cardona
http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Hartenstein/acardona/

[Joris FA Meys]

Thanks for the corrections.

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 3:53 PM, acardona <[hidden email]> wrote:

> > Thanks everyone for the open and the direct replies.
> > You gave me all the information that I needed.
>
>
> The information you have received is wrong:
>
> * ImageJ license: public domain
>
> * ImageJ only developer: Wayne Rasband at the Research Service Branch, NIH
> (USA).
>
> * ImageJ contributors: anyone that can convince Wayne he has something
> valuable to add. In practice, it means code that is public domain, that
> does not break any existing code (either at core or plugins), and that is
> generally well written and documented, and of reasonably general purpose.
>
> * ImageJ programming languages: mainly java, also macros (ImageJ macro
> language), but now also javascript (referred to as "scripting" in ImageJ
> web pages).
>
> Keep in mind that any language supported by the Java Virtual Machine can be
> used to for ImageJ-related programming. This includes javascript, clojure
> (a full replacement for java), jython, jruby, beanshell, groovy, and scala
> (there are a few others). And also, via the JNI (java native interface) and
> the JNA (java native access), any C/C++ and any other object-code compiled
> program with a public API.
>
> Some of the above languages are directly supported by the ImageJ packaged
> distribution fiji, available at http:/pacific.mpi-cbg.de, along with
> numerous libraries, tutorials and documentation.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Albert
> --
> Albert Cardona
> http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Hartenstein/acardona/
>