I would totally agree on the first point about how much of a burden it can be to get any moderately complex Python environment up and running (whether IPython N

I would totally agree on the first point about how much of a burden it can be to get any moderately complex Python environment up and running (whether IPython Notebook is part of the install or not.) Unfortunately, it's just not as easy as it should be yet. IMHO, this is what makes a duo like Vagrant + IPython Notebook so appropriate for creating a minimum barrier to entry. In other words, what you really need is a VM that has IPython Notebook and all of the necessary dependencies installed that you just start up as a guest machine. Then, on your host, you point your browser to http://localhost:8888 http://localhost:8888 and get to work with the the ipynb UI. The approach I described is exactly what I did with Mining the Social Web 2E, and I elaborated on it a bit here: http://miningthesocialweb.com/2013/08/24/reflections-on-authoring-a-minimum-viable-book/ http://miningthesocialweb.com/2013/08/24/reflections-on-auth... The cool thing about the way Vagrant works is that you can run a VM locally or you can run it in the cloud just as easily with the appropriate plugin. There's a video that demonstrates how easy it can be to use Vagrant and IPython Notebook to get started here - https://vimeo.com/72383764 https://vimeo.com/72383764