All: Having attempted and failed at successfully using an engineering student from Carleton, I point the finger straight at university administration that no only do not understand the benefits derived from Open Source alternatives, but do not include proper Unix and scripting as part of their curriculum. It is unfortunate that without directed work terms that most engineering students are unqualified for hard core programming or hardware design jobs. My thoughts. Peter > > > > > > > >You may find the document “How_to_buy_a_Laptop_Best_Practices.pdf” > >valuable to you and your students. > > >Here’s 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 > > > > >