Another student's view:

I agree that being a student is tough with lack of $$ and all. School is expensive, text books are expensive ... everything is expensive ... but I don't think that you can just steal people's hard work becuase you are a student.

Most extra resources are created as additions. They are not manditory for you to learn or use whatever you are trying to do. There are man pages, documentation, etc. that is available for free provided with whatever you are trying to learn.

Actually, students maynot have to steal, there is a lot of free resources for students that others may not have access to. These include:

The Library: Most schools have one of these, and you can find all types of books here ... for free. If I can't afford a certain book, I go here first. Some of the stuff is out of date, but you can usually find some of what you need here.

Profs: Go see a Comp Sci or Engineering prof and see if they have resources that you can borrow. There are certain licences that allow students to have access to s/w and other sorts. Ex: I needed a specific Java IDE for a Java course. The reatil package was too expensive for me at the time, but my deptment had a special licence that let the students have a copy of the IDE for free (the school paid the licence). It was not the full/pro version but it had more than what we needed. Plus, companies want people to use their products and who better to taget.

The Internet: There is tones of free tutorials, online communities (i.e.: Perlmonks), IRC channels, etc. Form what I have seen, every student has an Internet account and access to a computer, so let's do more than just surfing for Britney Spears' pics ... (nothing wrong with that, she is cute !!) ... and surf for resources and learning material. Search school web sites for courses, this usually generates a plethera of usefull, relaible info.

However, as a student I can see your point. I am not trying to prove you wrong or diss your point. There has been many, many times when I needed some s/w, a manual, a text book, etc. and it is way too expensive (i.e.: $100 for a 8086, out of print, "manditory" Assembly reference book ... which I no longer need). Sometimes you just have to look in other places for the info that you need.

Ducati ~~ Still a po' student ... but getting there.

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"We rock the body to rock the party ... until the party rocks the body"

De La Soul