(I work at the Canadian Meteorological Centre, the equivalent of NCEP in the US)
Linux acceptance is very high on the server side and the technical desktop in the Canadian Meteorological Service. The Service is part of Environment Canada (the Department of the Environment) and I must point out that the department as a whole is a total MS Windows shop.
Many of my colleagues (research, development, and operational production types) wouldn't dream of typing a memo or a presentation in anything but Word or Powerpoint. They use a Windows-based X-server to access our Linux and Unix servers. And they treat me like a harmless eccentric when I go on about interoperability using OpenOffice and Mozilla.
So on the minus side, I'd have to say that the masses and management of EC, and even most techies outside of IT, still don't "get it".
On the plus side, I find it encouraging that they don't need to undergo some kind of personal conversion in order to put linux on the technical desktop. To the guys and girls working the forecast desks, it "just works" like the old CDE desktop used to. And to the managers, the migration and installation costs were simply more acceptable than the alternatives.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Another view from the inside
Posted by: girouette on October 18, 2003 07:30 AMLinux acceptance is very high on the server side and the technical desktop in the Canadian Meteorological Service. The Service is part of Environment Canada (the Department of the Environment) and I must point out that the department as a whole is a total MS Windows shop.
Many of my colleagues (research, development, and operational production types) wouldn't dream of typing a memo or a presentation in anything but Word or Powerpoint. They use a Windows-based X-server to access our Linux and Unix servers. And they treat me like a harmless eccentric when I go on about interoperability using OpenOffice and Mozilla.
So on the minus side, I'd have to say that the masses and management of EC, and even most techies outside of IT, still don't "get it".
On the plus side, I find it encouraging that they don't need to undergo some kind of personal conversion in order to put linux on the technical desktop. To the guys and girls working the forecast desks, it "just works" like the old CDE desktop used to. And to the managers, the migration and installation costs were simply more acceptable than the alternatives.
#