The University of Washington (just across the lake from the Redmond Monopoly) is under heavy "attack" from Microsoft:
1) The old terminal payroll mainframe is being replaced by a server running Microsoft Windows NT. One could access the old, clunky system via a telnet session from just about any OS, but the new system runs over the "Web" using Micosoft Active Server Pages, yet requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher running Microsoft Windows 95 or higher to access it. Disgusting.
2) Microsoft Office, normally available for $400+, costs around $40. (Assuming you get the purchase order version, that is). It sure would be nice if other companies offered an order of magnitude off the price of their products for academic use.
There's probably a few more things going on, but the above two are my main pet peeves.
Slashdot Mirror
The University of Washington (just across the lake from the Redmond Monopoly) is under heavy "attack" from Microsoft:
1) The old terminal payroll mainframe is being replaced by a server running Microsoft Windows NT. One could access the old, clunky system via a telnet session from just about any OS, but the new system runs over the "Web" using Micosoft Active Server Pages, yet requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher running Microsoft Windows 95 or higher to access it. Disgusting.
References:
http://www.washington.edu/user/hardware.html
http://www.washington.edu/user/techserv.html
2) Microsoft Office, normally available for $400+, costs around $40. (Assuming you get the purchase order version, that is). It sure would be nice if other companies offered an order of magnitude off the price of their products for academic use.
There's probably a few more things going on, but the above two are my main pet peeves.