Sounds like the girl wasn't prepared for the course, I'm sure it could have been dealt with. My wifes college course demanded that every student have a working version of windows XP SP2 or SP3 (vista not allowed), Office 2003 (ironically all her computing books are 2007) and they were trying to get students to pay $2000 for a laptop through them, which the equivalent was about $500 in walmart although no one was forced to buy through them (however they are with their books).
I offered my laptop for my wife to borrow as it's XP SP2, Office 2007 and kicks the requirements ass three-fold. However, she never had to use it because they all get free access to the computer labs, which quite ironically all run Vista even though the requirements were for XP. She could essentially do every bit of work for the class at school, yet they're telling all the students they need a laptop.
If she does need a laptop in her second year then we'll probably get her an Acer Aspire One as they're like $350 from Costco and meet the colleges minimum specs. Plus I wouldn't have a problem using it if she ever needed a more powerful laptop.
I personally dislike Ubuntu, but I think the bigger deal here is that colleges set ridiculous requirements. I mean I don't use Ubuntu, I don't even want to touch the sucker, but even I know that if I was stuck I just need to download OpenOffice! I think a college, who have computer departments (and my wifes has free advice on fixing any computer problem from their computer department, or tax-free repairs) could figure this one out. Even Google Docs saves in Word documents!
On the case of the internet, that's Verizon's fault for not keeping up to date, but even then I installed my first internet connection at like 7 years old. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to dumbly stumble my way into setting up the internet on Ubuntu and I could have it done within a couple of minutes with a guide on how to do it or even the knowledge of where things are in Ubuntu.
Summary: Absolutely everyone in this case was retarded. The girl shouldn't have quit, should have returned the laptop or just dealt with it through OpenOffice and calling verizon to ask how to install it manually. Verizon should create a setup disk for Linux. Dell should be shipping its Ubuntu versions with OpenOffice. Linux users shouldn't freak out and give the media a free article.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but today's Ubuntu systems do come installed with OO, and even if not, it's not like it's difficult to acquire when the user grasps only the fundamentals of the package system(two or three navigating moves, a search entry, and one or two clicks), which is fully available with more applications than one has time in their lifespan to go through let alone actually use. :) But alas, the problem I think with OO, at least in my experience, is that OO is like a one way function- it accepts .doc formats but it's not /completely/ compatible the other way around- going to a purely Win Office(Word) world. I've noticed simple discrepancies after saving in OO and then opening in Word that I didn't particularly care for. However, the most full-circle solution that I found to that was(possibly an advanced topic for this student), is to open up something like VMWare Player or Workstation and there's your glorified Windows Office.
What urks me about these schools is that they're not as informed as they're supposed to be. Making such stringent requirements such as those are just plain moronic. But as you do, I see the cause- they're trying to make the dough through the licenses by demanding their students adhere to these rules.. when in reality they could just say "Windows compatible" - come on.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but today's Ubuntu systems do come installed with OO"
It's good if it does, but I wouldn't know. If there is a problem between OO and Word, the simplest solution would probably be to save in .rtf as I've never seen a problem between any program saving in .rtf and it being opened in Word. I even worked this way for a long time when I worked as a reviewer, I used a simple blank canvas type of text editor and then I just loaded everything into word, did a quick spell check and sent it off. There was never a single problem.
I offered my laptop for my wife to borrow as it's XP SP2, Office 2007 and kicks the requirements ass three-fold. However, she never had to use it because they all get free access to the computer labs, which quite ironically all run Vista even though the requirements were for XP. She could essentially do every bit of work for the class at school, yet they're telling all the students they need a laptop.
If she does need a laptop in her second year then we'll probably get her an Acer Aspire One as they're like $350 from Costco and meet the colleges minimum specs. Plus I wouldn't have a problem using it if she ever needed a more powerful laptop.
I personally dislike Ubuntu, but I think the bigger deal here is that colleges set ridiculous requirements. I mean I don't use Ubuntu, I don't even want to touch the sucker, but even I know that if I was stuck I just need to download OpenOffice! I think a college, who have computer departments (and my wifes has free advice on fixing any computer problem from their computer department, or tax-free repairs) could figure this one out. Even Google Docs saves in Word documents!
On the case of the internet, that's Verizon's fault for not keeping up to date, but even then I installed my first internet connection at like 7 years old. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to dumbly stumble my way into setting up the internet on Ubuntu and I could have it done within a couple of minutes with a guide on how to do it or even the knowledge of where things are in Ubuntu.
Summary: Absolutely everyone in this case was retarded. The girl shouldn't have quit, should have returned the laptop or just dealt with it through OpenOffice and calling verizon to ask how to install it manually. Verizon should create a setup disk for Linux. Dell should be shipping its Ubuntu versions with OpenOffice. Linux users shouldn't freak out and give the media a free article.