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US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly
The Grants.gov site, which offers
information on applying for US Government grants, promotes the
PureEdge Viewer software. Unfortunately, PureEdge only works for
users running Windows, or a Windows emulator on an Apple platform.
The
PureEdge Support for Non-Windows Users document spells out the
usage requirements. In this case Non-Windows really means Apple-Only.
"Grants.gov recognizes that support to users of Non-Windows operating systems and the PureEdge Viewer is often required across a distinct segment of the grant applicant community. Although at this time, the PureEdge Viewer is only available for Windows based installs, Grants.gov offers support for Non-Windows platforms.
Grants.gov is working with PureEdge in the development of a Non-Windows compatible viewer. PureEdge has committed to providing a platform independent viewer by November 2006."
(Thanks to Eric Firing.)
(Log in to post comments)
Now here's a RADICAL idea! Posted Dec 30, 2005 3:02 UTC (Fri) by leonbrooks (guest, #1494) [Link] I know this is quite a breath-taking concept for a web site and all, but... why not use... [dramatic pause]... HTML?
Now here's a RADICAL idea! Posted Feb 28, 2006 18:46 UTC (Tue) by grantseeker (guest, #36188) [Link] HTML would, of course, be too easy. Is this about government incompetence,or is it more about government corruption? Sometimes there's a fine line between the two.
For folks like myself who want to access grants.gov from a linux
http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~deweaver/grants.gov.howto.html
Of course, I can't be sure it will work for anyone else, but it worked
I'd like to post a link here because this page is the first hit I got
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Dec 30, 2005 4:30 UTC (Fri) by jwb (guest, #15467) [Link] This doesn't seem like a very big deal. The PureEdge system, which is now owned by IBM, is basically an XML-over-HTTP system for submitting a form. Their format is based entirely on open standards. It would be a cakewalk for someone to write an open client, if anyone cared.
Funny that the solution provided on grants.gov is to allow open access to a Citrix server. That must cost them a fortune.
Our Government at work! Posted Dec 30, 2005 5:06 UTC (Fri) by kornak (guest, #17589) [Link] Typical government waste.
Our Government at work! Posted Dec 30, 2005 8:30 UTC (Fri) by epeeist (guest, #1743) [Link] > Typical government waste
Having worked in academia, government organisations and private industry I have to disagree with you here.
It is large organisation waste. I have seen the same thing in virtually every organisation I have worked in once it gets above a certain size. The myth of private industry efficient, public service wasteful is just that, a myth. Smaller organisations tend to be more efficient and effective than large ones.
Our Government at work! Posted Dec 30, 2005 11:07 UTC (Fri) by smitty_one_each (subscriber, #28989) [Link] I just say: "people don't scale".
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Dec 30, 2005 5:31 UTC (Fri) by omez (guest, #6904) [Link] And now that they've upgraded to _13_ servers, they can accept over 4000 applications just one day! </smarm>
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Dec 30, 2005 19:26 UTC (Fri) by jd (guest, #26381) [Link] Damn. Doesn anyone have RobLimo or CowboyNeil's phone number? A link from Slashdot should overload a limit of 4,000 very easily.
There *is* a linux citrix client Posted Dec 31, 2005 11:19 UTC (Sat) by dps (subscriber, #5725) [Link] Although you would not have guessed it from grants.gov a citrix metaframe client is available for linux already. You can download it from citrix's website. Citrix even provide a version for linux/ARM, various other unix flavours and MacOS. (The linux/x86 version apparently works on some*BSD flavours of unix too.)
grants.gov presuambly spent $$$$$ citrix metaframe and would have got better performance and a more secure solution by using HTML (and SSL/TLS if they need an encrypted connection). I am not sure how widely web 2.0/AJAX support is...and see no good reason why old fanionshed XHTML 1.0 transitioal or HTML 4.01 with optional assistence from lowest common demoninator javascript would not be sufficient.
In short if grants.gov had to choose a "windows remote display" solution then citrix is more cross-platform than most. Some non-windows users proably use Solaris on a SPARC platform, which is common in university computer science departments. M$ office has minimal utility if you are writing a big document or use a lot of mathematics (*TeX excels in this area, partly because it was designed for this sort of document).
There *is* a linux citrix client Posted Jan 2, 2006 13:06 UTC (Mon) by wookey (subscriber, #5501) [Link] As you say - citrix ica/metaframe has reasonable cross-platform support, but to give you an idea of the usefulness of that support outside the mainstream, I offer you a datapoint. Two years ago I spent a week or two trying to get the linux/arm client to work on something other than the Netwinder/Red-Hat target it was compiled for (in 2000), with very limited success, despite access to Citrix Support.
This merely illustrates the problems of binary-only 'support' for software as diverse as GNU/Linux on multiple architectures.
In practice it seems that even Windows Remote Desktop is actually (much) better-supported than Citrix MetaFrame because there is a published standard for it, and corresponding Free Software (rdesktop).
The situation may have improved since last time I prodded it (although the posted ARM client download is still ancient), but my current advice to anyone with a choice would be use NX, VNC, or Rdesktop before Citrix, especially if you need to use it on anything non-x86.
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Dec 31, 2005 11:25 UTC (Sat) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link] > This doesn't seem like a very big deal.> The PureEdge system, which is now owned by IBM, > is basically an XML-over-HTTP system for submitting > a form. Their format is based entirely on open standards. > It would be a cakewalk for someone to write an open > client, if anyone cared
Could you please point me to the specifications of that standard?
BTW: try reading the following short phrase:
rtopzmglnmeptmuxmfnvkhlweoymvmsdlgfwxmfaseoptrmxnc
Anybody using TzafView(tm) will be able to easily read this. And the encoding is based on the open, well-known and well-established standard of ASCII. Writing a viewer should be a cakewalk.
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Dec 30, 2005 16:25 UTC (Fri) by dwheeler (guest, #1216) [Link] According to http://grants.gov/MacSupport,"Although, the information below is specific to Mac users, it can be utilized to help Linux, Unix, GNU, and other Non-Windows users." What the heck does that mean?
US Government Grants Site not Linux Friendly Posted Jan 2, 2006 9:16 UTC (Mon) by jamesh (guest, #1159) [Link] The PDF linked below that text tells Mac users that they can use a virtualisation software (Virtual PC) to run Windows, and hence the Windows specific software.
I guess it is relevant to users of other systems like Linux that have similar virtualisation software available (vmware).
Government Sites should be required to be cross-platform Posted Dec 30, 2005 21:03 UTC (Fri) by wyo (guest, #34851) [Link] Why don't you write to your representative and demand that governmental site should be cross-platform? On the web itÂ’s easy achieved with Web 2.0/AJAX and for application there is wyoGuide (http://wyoguide.sf.net). There is no technical reason anymore to use any proprietary software.
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