==== The problem and the opportunity ====

=== There is still room for improvement in the software available for controlling amateur telescopes ===

  * The original commercial offerings are now dated and expensive (they survive in a small market)
  * The open source / freeware choices are essentially very similar in style and limitations (monolithic, feature bloat, error-prone interfaces)
  * The one outstanding offering, Voyager, is idiosyncratic and has minimal documentation
  * Some of the offerings have “scratch-like” graphical scripting, but are not scriptable from outside the application
  * Some important features are either missing, poorly executed, or available in very expensive commercial products only (e.g. the target scheduler)

=== Opportunities for astroimaging are flourishing ===

  * Electronics, especially cameras and computerized mounts are advancing rapidly whilst becoming less expensive
  * The worlds best observing sites are now available to amateurs through commercial "[[remote-hosting|remote hosting]]" 

=== Developing new and better software would be a worthwhile project ===

  * Can I do this in Forth?

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-> [[forth-role | What role for Forth?]]

<- [[target-scheduling| Target scheduling]]