[McIDAS #HVF-427534]: mcidas and the future

Hi Paul,

Sorry for the slow reply... I just returned from the AMS Conference in
Seattle last night, and I am now catching up on email.

re:
> We are undergoing some big changes around here and would like to know the
> best way to move into the future. We have been playing with McIDAS-V which
> incorporates McIDAS-X and IDV. Is that where we should start focusing?

This is a very good question.  It has not yet been determined if we will be
supporting McIDAS-V directly.  We will, of course, be supporting the IDV,
so you may want to consider using it instead.  We will be supporting McIDAS-X
for long as it is a viable application (no end in sight yet) and is active
use in the community.

re:
> I assume that the XCD and McIDAS-X work that we have done will merge into
> the V packages.

This is also another interesting question for which there is no definitive
answer yet (this was a hot topic at the McIDAS User's Group (MUG) meeting
that I attended back in October).  SSEC is trying to figure out how to
move forward now that McIDAS-V has been officially released.  The decision
that I heard was to continue supporting McIDAS-X/-XCD for the undetermined
future mainly since there is a large, active user base that is _very_
reluctant to see the packages disappear.  Just so you know, the McIDAS
user base is much the same as the GEMPAK user base: folks have integrated
both packages' functionality into their "operations" (education, research,
web presence, etc.), and nobody wants to see the applications go away or
support for those applications diminish.  We will be working our way through
this murky area under the guidance of our governing committees (User Committee
in particular), so if you may want to consider contacting them if you have
strong feelings (e.g., want McIDAS-X/-XCD support to continue, or lobby
for Unidata to support McIDAS-V, or to drop existing support in favor of
increased IDV and/or McIDAS-V support, etc.).  The email addresses for
the Unidata governing committees are:

Unidata Policy Committee <address@hidden>
Unidata Users Committee <address@hidden>

re:
> Trying to come up to speed!

As are we all in this time of flux!

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: HVF-427534
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed