ChemNews.Com VOL 6 NO 4
ChemStore.Com has More in Store for You
Jerald J. Baronofsky, Ph.D.
When CambridgeSoft opened its electronic store in May of 1997,
we were not quite sure how it would be received by the large number
of people who had been frequenting our website. Most of our website
visitors go to the ChemFinder WebServer or browse other locations
of interest. At the time the idea of selling products by electronic
transactions was not new to the general public, and we wondered if
the chemistry community was ready to follow suit. Would they be comfortable
downloading versions of the programs with only electronic documentation?
After all, manuals and program packages were part and parcel of most
scientific software purchases. To satisfy customers who want something
tangible when they buy we decided to offer packaged products to E-shoppers
as well as download programs.
Serving the Chemistry Community
Well, we were pleasantly surprised with the results. Sales via the
ChemStore.Com (as we came to call it) increased
steadily month by month. Now, over a year later, ChemStore.Com has
become another important channel of CambridgeSoft's ongoing mission
to service the chemistry community.
Many readers may not be aware of the fact that a few months ago
we began to offer third-party software products in ChemStore.Com.
The rationale for this is obvious: there are many fine scientific
programs out there which complement CambridgeSoft products (directly
or indirectly), and we would like our Catalyst readers to be aware
of them. ChemStore.Com makes it convenient for you to learn about
the features of these third party programs and order them while
visiting the Camsoft.Com website.
Many of the programs we feature in ChemStore.Com are natural add-ons
to our product line. These include programs like Conformer, which
was developed by Princeton Simulations exclusively as an add-on
to Chem3D for performing conformational searches. Another program,
ChemData by ChemSW comes in ChemFinder compatible format. gNMR from
Cherwell which simulates NMR spectra, and NamExpert and Nomenclator
from ChemInnovation which provide chemical structures to named compounds
and vice versa, respectively, can work in conjunction with ChemDraw.
But there are also programs which are devoted to other aspects
of scientific endeavor and should be of interest to some chemists.
CIS Pro by ChemSW is a chemical inventory system program. Programs
available from CRC Press, EM Software and SCS International provide
electronic chemical information in several different specialty areas.
For scientists looking for good mathematical analysis packages,
available are MathCAD and AXUM, both from MathSoft.
We recently added the means to search for and order chemistry-related
books by linking up with Amazon.com. Shoppers can call up the bestselling
books in several disciplines or do a keyword search for specific
topics or compounds.
One Stop Chemistry Shopping
As you can see, CambridgeSoft's efforts to make ChemStore.Com into
a one-stop E-store is off to a rousing start and new programs are
being added regularly. Stop by the ChemStore.Com periodically when
you visit our website to see what's new and we might have something
there for you! |
