Microsoft Windows platform

II. Product Summaries Schrodinger provides its FirstDiscovery software suite to address and aid in the discovery process in industry. First Discovery runs under Unix and Linux and it includes several programs Glide, Jaguar, Liaison, LigPrep, MacroModel, Maestro, Mopac 2002, pKa predictor, Phase, Prime, QikPro, Qsite, and Strike. For the Microsoft Windows platform Schrodinger offers CAChe, BioMedCAChe, ChemFrontier, MaterialsExplorer, QikPro, Titan, and WinMOPAC. 

The application is developed on the Microsoft Windows platform (Win32) and the intermediate layer is implemented as dynamic link hbraries (DLLs), moreover, a communication interface between it and the main application is defined. The bottom layer (layer 1) consists of the devices that are connected directly to the computer, interface cards and device drivers, manufacturer libraries for the control of the equipment and programming the connection interfaces. 

Fifteen years ago, most of the computational chemistry software was designed to run on expensive mainframes, minicomputers, and workstations. More recently, with the increasing speed and declining price of computer chips, a desktop PC or a laptop computer has become an adequate platform for many calculations. To run software on your machine, you must be aware of which versions of computer operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, UNIX, Linux) are compatible with a particular program. 

While the overall development used a Windows application programming interface, incompatibilities exist across platforms (Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X). For this reason, we opted to use a more standardized interface using HTML that would be more accessible, at the cost of a few features (pairing text to certain times in the videos and full-screen video). Aside from these two features, the HTML interface is identical to the enhanced interface, using the same color scheme and layout and containing the same content. 

The solution presented here is based on CORBA [877], a wide-spread and mature middleware platform. CORBA provides direct support for a multitude of service management aspects in distributed systems [262]. Furthermore, there are many stable implementations. Thus, a first step was the selection of an appropriate CORBA implementation, based on an evaluation of the runtime characteristics (see Subsect. 4.2.3). For an a-posteriori integration of non-CORBA-based tools (e.g. those which were designed for Microsoft Windows) with the CORBA infrastructure, Microsoft s COM/DCOM [847] interface is used and wrappers were developed to integrated those technologies (see Subsect. 4.2.4). 

CHEOPS is developed using C++ first under Unix, then under Microsoft Windows. However, certain components, in particular the tool wrappers, can be developed using other programming languages (e.g., Python, Fortran) even under different platforms. An inherent feature of CHEOPS is the support of inter-platform communication between the components using CORBA middleware. For instance, the tool and the corresponding wrapper component can run on a software platform other than Windows. 

Operating system. If available, we recommend to use a Linux/UNIX system for the analysis. Also Mac OS X, in principle a full-featured UNIX system, is an adaequate platform. Alternatively, RNAz can also be run on Microsoft Windows. Most of the methods described in this chapter can be carried out on Windows without any modification. 

In order to install and run the OPUS version 4.0 demo you will need a Pentium III nbsp class PC with the Microsoft WINDOWS NT 4.0, WINDOWS 2000 or WINDOWS XP platforms, but note that neither WINDOWS 95 nor WINDOWS 98 are suitable. It is recommended to use an 800 MHz (or higher) processor with at least 128 MB RAM base memory (256 MB recommended) and a hard disk. The demo version of the software and the spectra database are both stored on the CD-ROM enclosed. A corresponding CD-ROM drive is therefore required. Prior to starting the installation proeedure you should ensure that the operating system WINDOWS NT 4.0 with the Service Pack 6 or WINDOWS 2000 or WINDOWS XP is already installed on your computer. The minimum technical requirements for your OPUS workstation are summarized in Tab. 2.1. 

The system was built on a Microsoft Windows NT server platform, by a Microsoft Internet Information Server and browsed by a Microsoft hitemet Explorer. The database is a Microsoft SQL server but the information can be integrated into other legacy databases. The main program for displaying further applications is EQOS Administrator which has been developed by using Microsoft Visual Basic and e-commerce functionahty. 

Each GUI has its own standards for interapplication data exchange. Popular examples are today Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) in Microsoft Windows, Inter-Apphcation Communication (LAC) in the upcoming version 7 of the Apple Macintosh operating system, and AppUcation Communication Services (ACS) on the Digital platforms under DECWindows. 

The same operating systems and environments, for example UNIX and X-Windows are available for a variety of different hardware platforms. Some vendors, for example, Microsoft Corporation provide very similar environments (Microsoft Windows series) on different platforms. This frees the consumer somewhat in his or her choice of hardware. The end-user will see a similar environment on a number of different hardware platforms. 

The advent of operating environments that are fewer in number than the number of operating systems will improve the situation. I expect that the chemical community will follow the computer industry and standardize on a small number of OEs. I expect that the following OEs will find favor in the community, and be chosen by developers as the platforms on which to build the next generation of software for chemical applications (1) Microsoft Windows for high speed 80286 and 80386 DOS machines (2) Windows cousin, the Presentation Manager, for 80286 and 80386 OS/2 machines (3) Finder and Multi-Finder for the Macintosh (4) X-Windows and toolkits for UNIX machines and (5) DECWindows for DEC/ VAX/VMS. 

Regardless of IBM s interest, Microsoft continued on its own with its development of the GUI— which it named Windows after its rectangular work areas— and released the first version to the market in 1985. Apple filed a lawsuit soon after, claiming that the Microsoft GUI had been built using Apple technology, but the suit was dismissed. Apple s Macintosh and Microsoft s DOS-with-Win-dows combo have both continued to evolve, but until a recent deal between Apple and Microsoft, tensions have always been high. Mac and PC users, of course, still remain adamantly chauvinistic about their respective platforms. 

As a technician, you will quickly realize that this is very good for you Because of Microsoft s standardization of a single graphical interface for all of its operating systems, most basic tasks are accomplished in identical fashion on everything from a Windows 95 workstation computer to a Windows 2000 Advanced Server computer. Also, while the tools that are used often vary between Windows 98 and 2000, the way you use those tools remains remarkably consistent across platforms. 

HTML documents may then be processed and displayed using a browser that runs on any number of computer platforms, from UNIX workstations down to cellular telephones. These documents are simple text files that can be created with WYSIWYG tools (such as Microsoft s FrontPage or Netscape s Composer) or even a simple text editor such as the Windows Notepad. HTML relies on tags, keywords enclosed in angle brackets, like , ,

, etc., to specify what type of content or formatting is intended. HTML standards are controlled by an organization called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and their website (http //www.w3.org/) has the most accurate and up-to-date information about HTML. 

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