On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 19:03:16 -0700 Hodgins Family <ehodgins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
1) The professoriate are a class that strives for acceptance amongst their peers. If it is "generally" accepted that program X works in a certain way, our academics will be more inclined to use that application even if an alternative is cheaper, faster, "better", more secure, etc. Peer pressure is not something to be ignored. And remember, more money is simply a grant proposal away. The cash to be saved by using open source is simply not an issue in the academic world.
At the few colleges with which I have personal experience, money is
*always* an issue, especially among younger professors who don't have
large grants. Large amounts of cash are not "simply a grant proposal
away". And when we do have money for software, we chemistry folks want
new instruments and don't much care about the operating system or the
application vendor as long as the OS and applications can talk to the instruments.
One problem we face with Linux is lack of this specialty software. We have to have some Windows boxes simply because the Linuc boxes we have won't talk to the instruments.
My wife who works in micro would like to see Windows based lab equipment that work and don't crash in the middle of a test run.
Talking with the instruments is one thing, actually working is another. She has fought with the supplier of a new machine since it has arrived for not working properly. For office work she uses a Mac. At home we use Linux and she wouldn't let me even think about dual boot.
-- Robin Laing
