The Specify Software Project continues to move forward with support activities and new software development. We are currently testing Specify 6.2.02 which will add requested fields to database, and address a small number of bugs. The release is scheduled for mid-July.
We recently diagnosed a cryptic hardware driver incompatibility affecting MySQL (32 or 64 bit) running on Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit), related to drive controller software known as the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager". If you have installed or plan to install MySQL on a Windows 7 workstation or possibly on Windows Server 2008, you should clear this incompatibility with a driver update, see the Technical Forum on this web site for details.
And last but not least, we are exuberant to announce that the Specify Software Project's renewal proposal has been recommended for funding by program staff at the US National Science Foundation. The proposed award would represent a 38% reduction from our requested budget but the reduced amount will sustain our core software development and collections community support activities for the next four years. The Foundation has indicated that it expects us to generate revenue to recover some portion of our ongoing project costs during the course of the award, aimed at increased financial sustainability without full grant support in the future. We will be looking at options for that over the next four years. We are delighted at this outcome of our proposal review, and look forward to doing more with less as we co-produce innovative and integrative biological collections software with new collaborators, and increase our own internal efficiency and productivity.
As a consequence of this pending renewal award, we will be reinforcing existing co-development collaborations and looking to initiate new technical and client partnerships, both nationally and internationally. We have several conversations under way with potential development partners and we're looking forward to helping collections more effectively leverage Specify toward their own requirements and data vision. In coming weeks, we will also begin a review our existing collaboration methods and modes of interaction with the community. We have already received useful advice and consultation from US and foreign partners about how we might collaborate more effectively and we anticipate making some changes in our methods and communications as a result. Let us know how we can work more effectively with your institution, organization, or project in the future.
In mid-July, we will re-activate our Specify 5-to-6 conversion queue in force to migrate Specify 5 databases. Our near-term priorities consist of completing the testing of Specify 6.2.02 and the coding of Specify 6.2.03, as well as continuing our co-development activities with the Mex@MICH Project (Barcelona), the Morphbank Project (Florida State) and with the Filtered Push Project (Harvard). We are also holding a Specify workshop next week in collaboration with the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical and the Museu Nacional de Historia Natural in Lisbon.