On 07/23/2011 05:54 PM, Alec T. Habig wrote:
> Yasha Karant writes:
>> Although the future is unclear for Fermilab with the imminent
>> decommissioning of the Fermilab accelerator, this professional status
>> currently is correct.
>
> Correction - one beamline (the tevatron) and associated experiments are
> ending.  The rest of the accelerator complex and associated experiments
> (not to mention the non-accelerator based stuff) are humming right
> along, new experiments coming online, etc.
>

I believe there is some danger of what the lists term a "flame war" from 
this discussion -- that is not the point nor my intention.

With no disrespect (and not being a Troll -- the decision of which Linux 
operating environment and distribution to use is one that requires data 
or, lacking that, anecdotal experience), Wikipedia states the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermilab

Current developments
[edit] The end of the Tevatron Run

On January 10, 2011 it was announced that the Tevatron Accelerator had 
failed to find additional funding to continue operation beyond the close 
of fiscal year 2011 (October 2011).[10]
[edit] Financial situation

The Fermilab budget has been continuously below inflation over the last 
several years, and Fermilab failed to attract more funding sources and 
this resulted in reducing staff levels (by 100 in 2005).[11] The new 
director of the lab and the new management are working hard to bring the 
International Linear Collider (ILC) to Fermilab. However, the decision 
by Congress to fund the ILC at only a quarter of the requested $60 
million significantly reduces the chances that Fermilab or any other 
U.S. research facility will host the ILC. Due to Fermilab's financial 
situation, on December 20, 2007, director Piermaria Oddone announced the 
planned layoffs of 10% of Fermilab's staff.

End quote.

Although the experimental facilities you mention are ongoing, the issue 
of long term funding of fundamental physics (or fundamental science 
without immediate practical application -- the genetic science and 
engineering fields are fundamental biology and medicine, but are also 
have immediate practical application -- going beyond/fixing the Standard 
Model lacks such applications) is highly unresolved in the USA under the 
Republican Tea Party model -- and has been declining for a number of 
years.  This issue is not a SL or Linux issue, but merely a comment on 
the longer term stability of SL as being developed by paid professionals 
(from Wikipedia:  this resulted in reducing staff levels (by 100 in 
2005)).  The situation at CERN is less bleak, even given the financial 
problems of the EU and Euro/Eurozone, from colleagues I know in various 
EU nations, some of whom are in CERN collaborations.

This list is not the appropriate place to attempt to convince Tea Party 
Republicans and Social Program Democrats to maintain public funding 
(investment) in fundamental physics.  However, the practical 
ramifications of such de-funding may have implications for the Fermilab 
portion of SL support.  I am not trying to be grim, negative, 
derogatory, Troll, or anything else -- merely discussing the present 
facts and a possible several year future.  I certainly hope that 
Fermilab/CERN will continue to assign / allow to work with pay 
professionals to redistribute RHEL and to support both enhancements and 
bug fixes to RHEL, rebadged as SL.