QUERY Open Source Simulation Software for SD
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:31 am
Posted by Stefano Armenia - Ateneo <stefano.armenia@uniroma2.it>
Dear all,
it's quite a long time since i'm looking out for some software for
System Dynamics Modelling which may be Open Source in a strict sens of
the word. I do not know if anyone has ever had the chance to cover this
issue or at least if this is an issue to the community. Actually, in my
work, I also deal with open Source software, especially connected to
Public Administration, and so I'm quite into the issue of open
standards, open formats and open source software. I know this issue
might be not so popular among the SD software producers, but I think
that, referring also the discussion on the quality of models which was
going on on this mailing list, the free availability of software for
research reasons might be an issue, especially for institutions which
cannot allow themselves even the low cost of an academic version (and i
can ensure you that it happens in many countries - italy first) or for
young researchers who do research on their own or who are not connected
or affiliated to some research institutions. I believe that the
unavailability of a free software for SD might also be a reason for the
scarce submission of models or for the submission of poorly documented
models to the ISDC. How many times we have found ourselves complaining
about having a demo version of a certain software or for the fact of
being unable to import a different software model file in our licensed
modelling software environment? In this sense, the availability at least
of open formats for models (XML may help in this, and also the
experience of opening file formats, like the Microsoft Office one may be
of some interest also for the various existing simulation software)
could be in my opinion a first step for an ""opening"" of the SD
simulation techniques towards other simulation communities, thus also
allowing to disseminate the SD methodology itself.
Regards, Stefano Armenia
Stefano Armenia, Eng, MBA, PhD
@ ""Tor Vergata"" University of Rome, Italy
Posted by Stefano Armenia - Ateneo <stefano.armenia@uniroma2.it>
posting date Tue, 4 Mar 2008 19:26:29 +0100
_______________________________________________
Dear all,
it's quite a long time since i'm looking out for some software for
System Dynamics Modelling which may be Open Source in a strict sens of
the word. I do not know if anyone has ever had the chance to cover this
issue or at least if this is an issue to the community. Actually, in my
work, I also deal with open Source software, especially connected to
Public Administration, and so I'm quite into the issue of open
standards, open formats and open source software. I know this issue
might be not so popular among the SD software producers, but I think
that, referring also the discussion on the quality of models which was
going on on this mailing list, the free availability of software for
research reasons might be an issue, especially for institutions which
cannot allow themselves even the low cost of an academic version (and i
can ensure you that it happens in many countries - italy first) or for
young researchers who do research on their own or who are not connected
or affiliated to some research institutions. I believe that the
unavailability of a free software for SD might also be a reason for the
scarce submission of models or for the submission of poorly documented
models to the ISDC. How many times we have found ourselves complaining
about having a demo version of a certain software or for the fact of
being unable to import a different software model file in our licensed
modelling software environment? In this sense, the availability at least
of open formats for models (XML may help in this, and also the
experience of opening file formats, like the Microsoft Office one may be
of some interest also for the various existing simulation software)
could be in my opinion a first step for an ""opening"" of the SD
simulation techniques towards other simulation communities, thus also
allowing to disseminate the SD methodology itself.
Regards, Stefano Armenia
Stefano Armenia, Eng, MBA, PhD
@ ""Tor Vergata"" University of Rome, Italy
Posted by Stefano Armenia - Ateneo <stefano.armenia@uniroma2.it>
posting date Tue, 4 Mar 2008 19:26:29 +0100
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