diff --git a/externals/coda-oss/modules/c++/str/include/str/Convert.h b/externals/coda-oss/modules/c++/str/include/str/Convert.h
index dcb5e9139..83afad5b7 100644
--- a/externals/coda-oss/modules/c++/str/include/str/Convert.h
+++ b/externals/coda-oss/modules/c++/str/include/str/Convert.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #define CODA_OSS_str_Convert_h_INCLUDED_
 
 #include <cerrno>
+#include <complex>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <iostream>
@@ -33,7 +34,6 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <typeinfo>
-#include <type_traits>
 
 #include "config/Exports.h"
 #include "coda_oss/string.h"
@@ -52,112 +52,17 @@ template <typename T> int getPrecision(const std::complex<T>&);
 template <typename T> int getPrecision(const types::ComplexInteger<T>&);
 #endif
 
-namespace details
-{
-    // Templating (and then specializing) toString() creates all kinds of weird name-look
-    // problems; avoid trying to work-around all that by just not doing it.
-    // 
-    // The preferred approach is to make a a toString() free function.
-    template <typename T>
-    inline std::string default_toString(const T& value)
-    {
-        // Use operator<<() to generate a string value; this may not be quite
-        // 100% kosher, but it's been long-standing practice in this codebase.
-        //
-        // Note that std::to_string() doesn't necessarily generate the same
-        // output as writing to std::cout; see
-        // https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string
-        std::ostringstream buf;
-        buf.precision(getPrecision(value));
-        buf << std::boolalpha << value;
-        return buf.str();
-    }
-
-    // https://stackoverflow.com/a/73594999/19912380
-    template<int N> struct priority : priority<N - 1> {};
-    template<> struct priority<0> {};
-
-    template<typename T>
-    inline auto toString_imp(const T& obj, priority<2>) -> decltype(obj.toString(), std::string())
-    {
-        return obj.toString(); // member-function
-    }
-
-    template<typename T>
-    inline auto toString_imp(const T& obj, priority<1>) -> decltype(toString(obj), std::string())
-    {
-        return toString(obj); // free function
-    }
-
-    template<typename T>
-    inline auto toString_imp(const T& obj, priority<0>) -> decltype(default_toString(obj), std::string())
-    {
-        return details::default_toString(obj); // our default utility which uses operator<<()
-    }
-    
-    // In order, try to call 1) obj.toString() (highest priority), 2) toString(obj),
-    // and finally 3) toString_(obj) (lowest priority).
-    template<typename T>
-    inline auto toString_(const T& obj) -> decltype(toString_imp(obj, priority<2>{}), std::string())
-    {
-        return details::toString_imp(obj, priority<2>{});
-    }
-}
+// Note that std::to_string() doesn't necessarily generate the same output as writing
+// to std::cout; see https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string
 template <typename T>
-inline std::string toString(const T& value) // no dectype() noise here, leave that in details::toString_()
-{
-    // This breaks the Windows-CMake build on GitHub (when building as an "external" in NITRO)
-    // ... different compilers or compile-options?
-    //return details::toString_(value);
-
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-
-// C++11 has a bunch of overloads, do the same.
-// https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string
-inline std::string toString(int value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(long value)
+std::string toString(const T& value)
 {
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(long long value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(unsigned value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(unsigned long value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(unsigned long long value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(float value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(double value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
-inline std::string toString(long double value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
+    std::ostringstream buf;
+    buf.precision(getPrecision(value));
+    buf << std::boolalpha << value;
+    return buf.str();
 }
 
-// C++ doesn't have these ...
-// https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string
-inline std::string toString(bool value)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(value);
-}
 inline std::string toString(uint8_t value)
 {
     return toString(gsl::narrow<unsigned int>(value));
@@ -213,19 +118,13 @@ template <typename T>
 inline std::string toString(const coda_oss::optional<T>& value)
 {
     // TODO: handle empty/NULL optional?
-    return details::default_toString(value.value());
+    return toString(value.value());
 }
 
-template <typename T>
+template<typename T>
 inline std::string toString(const T& real, const T& imag)
 {
-    return details::default_toString(std::complex<T>(real, imag));
-}
-
-template <typename T>
-inline std::string toString(const T* ptr)
-{
-    return details::default_toString(ptr);
+    return toString(std::complex<T>(real, imag));
 }
 
 CODA_OSS_API std::wstring toWString(const std::string&); // platform determines Windows-1252 or UTF-8 input and output encoding
@@ -234,6 +133,7 @@ CODA_OSS_API std::wstring toWString(const str::W1252string&); // platform determ
 
 CODA_OSS_API coda_oss::u8string u8FromWString(const std::wstring&); // platform determines UTF16 or UTF-32 input
 
+
 template <typename T>
 T toType(const std::string& s)
 {