You wrote: > M. Adam Davis gmail.com> writes: >> Most community colleges have computer labs that provide all these >> resources for students. Only in the case where the student cannot >> or will not use the provided equipment do they need to spend money >> on something else, and in that case the onus is on them the figure >> out their options and costs. > > I strongly disagree. The college provides what is needed on campus > *and* for home use *or* it specifies what is needed and must be > bought by all students. The availability of m$ office on college > computers combined with the requirement for it to be also used > outside it (f.ex. for homework) is an invitation to software piracy. > I do not need to explain why. You probably have a point, if such should be a requirement. OTOH, the way the article in question is written, I'd not be surprised if the requirement were "Microsoft Word compatible"; after all, that's what seemed to have been the case after actually asking them. Only someone who really read their requirements would know -- and apparently, from what's written, neither the student nor the writer did make that effort. As "Microsoft Word compatible" would of course count plain text files (can be opened with Word), RTF files, according to the article they consider OpenOffice documents compatible, and who knows what else... so not really a problem, in this case, it seems to me. Gerhard -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist