The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology (CBM) is the national meteorological service for Australia. In 1999 CBM completed the implementation of the Australian Interactive Forecasting System (AIFS) in forecasting offices throughout the country. AIFS comprises server/workstation hardware and a suite of software applications which support the full range of the forecast process from data collection, through visualisation to product dissemination and archive. Since 2001 work has proceeded on the next generation system (AIFS 2) which aims to update the hardware platforms and allow the introduction of a new, more streamlined forecasting process involving a digital database of forecast "policy" data from which multiple output products can be automatically generated. Some elements of AIFS 2 are already in operation but substantial development remains to be done. The philosophy, history and current and future developments of forecaster workstations is described and examples of AIFS 2 applications are presented.