[Wylug-discuss] Refworks

[Dave Fisher]

On Sun, Sep 12, 2004 at 03:25:46PM +0100, John Erskine wrote:
> Incidentally, Sheffield Hallam in its guide to new students doesn't even
> mention that there's an alternative to Microsoft software!

Hi John,

Actually Sheffield Hallam come at the top of my shortlist for academic
institutions which have contributed most to the collapse of the ITC
skills base in this country.

As far as I am aware, they were the first 'university' to convert to
exclusive use of Microsoft products on their 'academic' courses, even
going to the lengths of making the MSCE part of their computing degrees.
Of course, this 'ground breaking' strategy was based entirely on
academic priorities and had nothing whatsoever to do with the prospect
of modest financial reward from the business community of America's
Pacific Northwest.

Sadly, lots of institutions that should know better have now followed
them down the slippery slope.

Now many are so deeply locked-in, that they can't bring themselves to
pay the conversion costs of moving to what would be ultimately cheaper
and more academically fruitful open systems.

This is doubly ironic now that Sheffield Hallam (and others) are trying
to supplement their meagre income from student fees by selling publicly
subsidised commercial open source and open standards training to the
business community!

Frankly, I long for a return to the days when academic institutions
aspired to enlighten the commercial world, rather than trailing along
behind every stupid fantasy that business fashion spews out.

Dave