[pariahHN]

Part of the concern though is that should biorender shut down, for whatever reason (or some other human factor comes into play), you may lose access to anything stored there. You are also entirely dependent on access to that service. This is in contrast to a desktop application - YOU control the data and access to the service. It would be completely doable to have collaborative features built into that too without needing a third party to be involved, just not as profitable.

It's bad enough that we have to deal with Elseveir - we really should not be encouraging stuff like this when it is not necessary as a general principle.

[apathy]

I download the illustrations (duh?). That’s the value. I don’t actually care about the service per se. Once the illustrations are in the paper/talk, the value has been realized, for my lab.

Nothing in this world lasts forever. I’m ok with that. Software undergoes bit rot, and services shut down. For us, the value is simply that we can communicate complicated experimental designs and results, clearly and effectively, without a lot of application training or other bullshit. That’s worth a LOT to my lab.

We release almost everything open source, and are militant open data proponents. We also like to remind people “if it breaks, you get to keep the pieces”. The value of this service isn’t in the pieces.