Regarding Iridium flares... I've considered doing this. I've been
using IRIDFLAR myself from time to time. It really would be difficult to
improve greatly on it, in my humble opinion. Still, it would be pleasant
if Guide included this capability.

I can't really claim that artificial satellites are a strong point in
Guide. There are a _lot_ of improvements that could be made here. I
started to write up an e-mail about it for this mailing list. It grew
to the point that I decided it ought to go on my Web site, on the list
of "ideas for the future". It's now at:

http://www.projectpluto.com/future.htm#satellites

Masaki Kouda wrote: "I want to display viewing from Galileo with
ANIMATION." Or Cassini, or Voyagers 1 and 2. I have been thinking
about this for a while, and I may have found a solution. These objects
are basically "artificial satellites", and I think Guide can treat
them as such. (I added some comments about this at the above link.)
Then, I would have to allow you to set a satellite as your "observing
location". This could be Mir, or a geostationary satellite, or...
Galileo.

"...I wonder I need to get DVD-player in next year ?" I would like
to do this, yes. It would not work well for Guide 8, because DVD is
still rare. But for Guide 9, it will be a wonderful idea.

Michael mentioned "FakeCD" and "Virtual CD-ROM", two programs that
will let you install Guide on a hard drive. I've heard of people doing
this, yes... still, I know I'll need a good way to handle a two-CD-ROM
program without asking people to swap disks all the time. So Guide 8 will
need options to store one CD-ROM to the hard drive, or both, or none.
It will have to work if you have one CD-ROM drive, or two, or if you
just want to run from whatever data happens to be stored on the hard
drive at the time.

"...It's a very practical way especially if you want to use Guide with
your notebook (CD-ROM-drives use storage batteries in a very intensive
way !)" Yes, that is the most common reason for putting it on a hard
drive. I also hear from RealSky and Ax.0 users, who do so in order to
avoid swapping disks all the time.

-- Bill