January 03, 2005

A call-out to students of Computer Science

In a conversation that started on XML-Dev and without me realizing it ended up being between just Dr. Michael Kay and myself (didn't realize that simply hitting reply doesn't inlcude the xml-dev alias) Dr. Kay made the following comment after my question as to what would warrant extending the trial license for the Saxon-SA processor:

I'm happy to offer generous terms to good research proposals, but I need to see the plan/budget for the research project and to be convinced that the resources are adequate to achieve something useful while also being inadequate to buy Saxon licenses on commercial terms. Since a Saxon license costs less than 1 day of a researcher's time, that can be a difficult case to make.

While it would be a difficult case to make for anyone else beyond a college student that does leave a fairly significant door open for students of Computer Science to put toghether a proposal to Dr. Kay with the intention of researching and developing solutions that use the Schema-Aware capabilities of the Saxon-SA processor. To further extend this idea I would love to aid in the development process of such a project by putting together a competition of sorts between individual students or groups of students in which would enjoy taking this challenge to task and showcasing your skill-set at the same time. You never know what potential future-employers of your skill-set may be paying attention ;) Contact me if this sounds like something you would like to take part in.

Either way, this "offer" of sorts from Dr. Kay is an interesting one and something that if I did'nt have the means to purchase a license would most definitely be attempting to take him up on. If unaware you can contact Dr. Kay through the Saxonica.com web presence.