Do whatever you can. Documentation, packaging, training, whatever

Consider even just small steps... e.g. posting small examples of using FOSS can help a lot. I use my blog to help NOAA accomplish its mission indirectly. One instance is how to use QGIS to read data directly from a PostGIS database:

Using QGIS to view PostGIS data

Now, how do I convince the NOAA IT folks that QGIS should be on more peoples machines?

AIS on the IIS is amusing, but not all that helpful. SpaceQuest, ORBCOMM, and COM DEV all have space based AIS systems up...

• eNavigation09
• TEXAS III (2009)
• TEXAS II (2008)

Installing cygwin w/ cron, rsync and ssh is the only way to fly if you have to go by windows....

$ cygrunsrv -I cron -p /usr/sbin/cron -a -D
$ net start cron

Or... install some linux distro and get the real thing

This often comes purely from what the teaching faculty knows... which causes a lot of teaching of excel (+ maybe visual basic) too. If you don't know it, you can't teach it.

I've had a similar question for Hydrographic Offices in various countries that have to produce Coast Pilot/Sailing Directions documents. Except in their case, this is a document that has 100+ years of revisions and is looking to 100 more years. How do we get them into a process where they can track all the changes and reference where material was submitted from?

I tried to think through some of the options for this kind of stuff here:

Managing distributed XML document editing for nautical publications

I use Verizon's EVDO and am not very satisfied. I uses two mac laptops (ppc and x86) and suddenly started seeing a ton of kernel panics, where I had got years without trouble. The connection client is really lame. Also lame is the 5GB limit for the "unlimited plan". At least now they will not disconnect you if you hit 5GB in one month. They will "just" limit your througput. I'm out in NH and the service is come and go as with the verizon voice coverage. In San Fran, the coverage and usage was excellent. I used it on trains going through tunnels without trouble. It's annoying to have this adapter hanging off the side of the laptop all the time. Also, once in a while the network flays on "re-registering" and it locks me out of the system for 3-6 hours while the network thinks that I am trying to connect from two machines at the same time. They say that it is only for standard web browsing only. I haven't tried skype, but ssh, irc, and all http(s) all work fine. This sumer, I will also be getting a DSL or Cable link, cause I can't take this much longer as my only connection. Sometimes at my house, I get 3 "bars" and other times I go hours with none. I wish this client would log signal strength so I could see if there is some pattern to the outages. Tech support has been responsive, nice, and more friendly than most. Still, it is easy to run past their knowledge of how the network works. Over all rating: so-so