> This came from one of the IT staff at uOttawa. I've put in my 2 cents > that demanding file formats is one thing, but asking students to pay > more than $200 for software when there are Free/Libre alternatives falls > in the "not nice" column. > > >You may find the document âHow_to_buy_a_Laptop_Best_Practices.pdfâ > >valuable to you and your students. > > >Hereâs the reference (no login necessary): > > >http://doc-depot.telfer.uottawa.ca/Info/Computing/MBA_MHA_M.SC/How_to_buy_a_Laptop_Best_Practices.pdf > > One thing I don't know about is whether there is any open software that > can mimic MS Access. It may be that a few of us could do a "workalike" > to this document that lists the alternatives to M$ and the "price" i.e., > download location in each case. > > JN Hi, uOttawa does not have any interest in promoting free/open src. software while they have deal signed with Microsoft and IBM/Dell. If you pot on the top of it the very slow and often dysfunctional support/bureaucratic system then u can see that there is no point in counting on univ. to promote alternative solutions. I hope that telfer students do their math (they should be able to) and choose soft that is more cost efficient (and stable too) than Micro$oft. BTW. I our dep (Elec. Eng / SITE) some MS spoft is provided for free to grads. Rob.