[ale] VM ? (addendum: without windows licenses?)

[Jeremy T. Bouse]

Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-02-28 at 23:45 -0500, Steve Brown wrote:
>> That's wack. My school has the same requirements for their online
>> stuff (WebCT); it works under Linux but I needed to install the JRE
>> *shudder*. The teachers on there will actually recommend OpenOffice to
>> you if you can't get M$ Office. You should check to see if your school
>> is part of the MSDNAA, that way you can get free copies of all MS'
>> stuff (except Office, of course). Also, if you are forced to use IE,
>> then I would recommend trying out Avant Browser. It's based off of IE
>> (or it was when I was using it), so it's still kind of like you're on
>> the dark side.
>>
>> As for RMS, he makes very good points, and I agree with most of the
>> things he says. Free as in freedom is how I like my software; but I
>> definately don't think that simply using proprietary software is
>> "ethically wrong".  It's not preferable, but I don't see it as a moral
>> issue. Some of us have to live in the real world, and sometimes the
>> other choice is nothing (or in our case, not getting an education).
> 
> I have the JRE installed anyway, even though Ubuntu doesn't have the GPL
> version yet, I don't think.
> 
> In any case, I think that I am going to finish up the latter portion of
> my B.S. at GA Tech or somewhere else where I can hand in printed papers
> and work on paper.  At least that way, my choice of software is my own.
> 
> I get that the world runs on Windows and Microsoft's other products as
> far as people are concerned about interactions.  OpenOffice.org is
> getting really good about being able to interact with Microsoft's
> software, though it seems that the math/formula stuff in it isn't. 
> That's a royal pain.
> 
> Microsoft, being about as cooperative as an old wild dog, isn't very
> helpful, either.
> 
> And I just took a look at that MSDNAA thing.  It would seem to me that
> they are so desperate to attempt to ensure that their systems are used
> that they're taking measures far beyond what Unix had to.  Sure, Unix
> was given to educational institutions for next to free, if not free, but
> today, Unix-like systems are available without any cost.  Every rational
> argument points to using something that gives more back than a simple
> conditional restrictive set of permitted uses.  *shrugs*  Nonetheless,
> it seems that my school does participate in the MSDNAA program, though
> it seems that I am not in their database.  I suppose I'll have to do a
> little bit more digging around to see what I can do with this, if anything.
> 
> As far as software freedom/etc. goes, I don't think that choosing to use
> proprietary software is a morally bad thing to do.  I /do/ think,
> though, that forcing others to use it /is/ morally wrong.  After all,
> the ultimate freedom is choice, is it not?
> 

	I was taking online courses at a community college back in CA as well
as working on my Bachelors degree through University of Phoenix. Both
stated Windows was required; however, I got through the classes fine
without it. If I absolutely needed IE there's always running IE6 through
Wine. To write my papers I actually used LaTeX's PDF processor with an
APA document class. My Java programming class actually worked out better
running Linux than Windows as most of the other students were forever in
reboot cycles while I kept on working.

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