re: #139 HoosierHoops

I think we need to really invest in software..I know they have good tools now.. (except for using Fortran.. Because it is an old unstructured language it should be illegal to use it.)
If our Scientists need Oracle running on the fastest Sun Computers in the world and the Maintenance Contract on the code is a million a year?
I don’t care…We give you guys the best tools

Well, I promise that no one would turn down better and spiffier computers.

I wholeheartedly agree that Fortran should be illegal - in a perfect world.

One of the major problems though is legacy equipment and the cost of new equipment.

If you have a great piece of equipment that works great, gives solid data, and costs tens of thousands - and worse there really is no easy replacement save building your own from scratch because the company that made it is out of business or discontinued the device or whatever - and you can only talk to the damn thing using floppy disks and Fortran, then well, that is what you have.

Another thing is, you might have enough money in your group to get the new spiffy thing, but no money for a grad student to do anything with it left over.