In my federal government research lab, we have 15+ years of Excel scripts behind a huge amount of our ongoing analyses. Whether this route was the best or not is a bit moot now (Excel dependence grew by individual choices on the local level); currently the expense of the switch would be very high. Also, in any interaction with the outside world (like Universities), Office is still the de-facto standard. An attempt of mine to lead a co-authored study in a Latex document, with several scientists at universities, caused mass confusion (as opposed to just 'track changes' in word).
We're slowly creeping to R, python, etc., and Linux is allowed as a choice (about 10% of us choose it). That said, my lab made it over to Win 7 about 2 years ago now...
I like the linux alternative, but I like even more that decisions like this are made at a local level, rather than through a massive top-down disruptive push.
Eh, cheap dig. We are under specific legal and regulatory burden to produce, proof, and provide our results for external audits, which happen regularly. QC is a substantial part of the costs of a new system. Thanks for the offer of guarantee, though!
We're slowly creeping to R, python, etc., and Linux is allowed as a choice (about 10% of us choose it). That said, my lab made it over to Win 7 about 2 years ago now...
I like the linux alternative, but I like even more that decisions like this are made at a local level, rather than through a massive top-down disruptive push.