[VoxBo] voxbo project update

[Daniel Y Kimberg]

Dear VoxBo users,

As some of you already know, the original VoxBo grant recently
expired.  While this doesn't mean the end of VoxBo development, it
does mean some changes in focus, and I thought now would be a good
time to update everyone.

On the positive side, there is still funding for parts of VoxBo.  My
"database" grant supports extending VoxBo for lesion analysis, and
this includes some things that are needed for lesion analysis but will
probably help with fMRI as well (e.g., improved vbview, better
regression tools).  Also, Penn's CfN supports some of Dongbo's effort,
which can be directed towards VoxBo code, bug fixes, etc.  And it's
likely that some new tools will be developed as parts of other
projects to which I devote effort.  So VoxBo development is not
completely halted, and there's lots of good stuff ready (or close) for
the long-delayed next release (more on this soon, I hope).  Although
I'm not specifically funded to do things like fix scheduler bugs and
add features to vbconv, I should be able to sneak in the time to do
things like that, and generally keep what's already there working and
useful.

But I don't want to sugar coat things too much.  Reduced funding means
the total amount of effort devoted to VoxBo will be less than it has
been in the past, and much of that effort will be tangential to the
needs of fMRI users.  Some projects, fixes, and features that I
thought would be done by now will have to sit on the back burner for a
while, and there won't be any brand new cool stuff specifically for
fMRI for a while (outside of the unreleased but almost completed code
I already have, some of which is genuinely cool).

I still think the VoxBo project has a lot of unrealized potential, and
I haven't given up on it -- I'm still pursuing a handful of funding
options, and I'm irrationally optimistic.  While I can't make too many
promises, I will say that I'll do my best to keep it moving forward,
and I'll keep everyone posted if there are developments.

I hope this serves to clarify more than confuse, but please feel free
to follow up on the mailing list.  Thanks,

dan