I was only talking A-level and agree with you on all your comments. I was > trying to suggest that there are other ways that you can adapt in order to use Linux for teaching.

I realised you might be referring to A-level, but I'm not sure others in the thread were. Re OCR spec. They don't mention MS Access - they daren't. But every scrap of paper I have seen from the examiners bears its hallmarks. The materials on the Milberry and McWeeney websites and CDs are aimed directly at Access. And these chaps are not unconnected with the exam board. I have had students, one working on Access / asp/ IIS and the other working on mysql / php/ Apache. Either approach is satisfactory to the examiners. The limiting factor is the experience of the teachers rather than exam board expectations. And if a student explains what he's doing, as he should, the moderator doesn't need to understand the technicalities of php. After all, all he's doing is checking that I've done my marking job properly. i.e. by using a web-based front end you make the exam board even happier because you're integrating products: that was my gist. And that opens up a lot of non-windows options. -- ******************************************************************************** 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 ********************************************************************************