On the level of these discussions...

[Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr.]

I would like to qualify my orginal comments.  I intended to say that each
herbarium facility that I visited had at least one 386 or 486 available.
Almost no botanists had a PC for their exclusive use.  They were sharing
the PC or PCs available.  In the USA PCs are now considered to standard
office equipment like desks and chairs, in the biological facilities that
is not the case.  But, it is not holding back some very productive work.
By cooperating and sharing computer equipment, everyone had sufficient
computing power.

Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr.
USDA, Agricultural Research Service
Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory
Room 304, Building 011A, BARC-West
Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350 USA
Voice telephone: 301-504-9447
FAX: 301-504-5810
Internet: jkirkbri at asrr.arsusda.gov


On Fri, 30 Jun 1995, Jorge Soberon Mainero wrote:

> Regarding computers in Latin America I am afraid that I disagree with
> Patricia Davila. CONABIO has received detailed information on the
> infrastructure of 60 mexican museums and no one lacks 386 or 486s. Our
> computerization efforts has lead to dozens of museums getting money to
> acquire computer equipment. Besides, almost all university museums in
> Mexico are now accesible by Internet. Some of the major institutions are
> now well into workstations and GIS. PCs are now so cheap and widespread
> that it is no longer possible to regard computerization as something
> associated only to elite institutions. The most extreme example I know is
> of one indian NGO in the colombian Choco that not only have a solar power
> computer enclosed in Pelltier effect refrigerator, but it is also
> solar-powered and has a satellite-link to Internet!
>