MS Office with all the components (I think the market-speak is "Office Pro") is at least 200UKP, more usually 250UKP, when bought with a new machine. This is, of course, a rip-off.

What do we do (legally) to avoid paying this obscene sum?

It seems that it's impossible to get Office Pro through ANY educational discount scheme at the moment. Microsoft's UK education people know about this, they know that UK schools run courses which require it (which begs another question...) and they are arguing with their bosses back in the States. Apparently this was a Redmond decision applied worldwide - plainly American students don't need to use Access at all :-) It's a shambles, just like XP registration is proving a shambles, and is going to drive people away from Microsoft - and therefore in the right direction. One possibility would be to import Office Pro SL from America. Probably cheaper than the UK version, and finding a retailer to sell it in the UK is almost impossible, even if you don't mind being ripped off. -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of unacceptable material. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster@wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. Website: http://www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk ********************************************************************************