Would this mean that I'd have to boycott the Open University? Although some of its course do use free software, many others require the use of proprietary packages. What's more, some of these packages are all but impossible to get running under WINE - the OU is the only reason I still have Windows installed on my laptop (dual boot, of course).
I am on a bit of a crusade to get the OU to accept submission of assignments in Open Document format. Although all students are supplied with a copy of Star Office (unfortunately not Open Office), which uses ODF as its default format, assignments are only accepted in the following Word Processor formats:
- MS Word,
- MS Writer (do they mean the WP component of Works?)
- Wordperfect (5.1 or earlier - just for a bit of nostalgia)
Oh, and I could submit in plain text or rtf formats, but some assignments require diagrams and screenshots to be included.
I'm not convinced that boycott is the answer.