I hope sincerely hope they don't currently use "proprietary technology" like:
Wolfram Mathematica ($890/yr)
Magma ($2500/yr)
Maple ($680/yr)
COMSOL ($1500,yr)
Matlab ($500+/yr)
Seems like a very strange position to take, in my opinion.
Why does the field of mathematics suddenly now need to be "fair" and give everyone access to the same tools? Has that ever been the case in academics? It's always been a competition for name-recognition, grants, institutions, etc.
Macsyma / Maxima was an MIT developed CAS system back in the 60's that was proprietery until they sold it off to IBM for a tidy sum. Magma actually has free access if you're in the US, otherwise you pay. That's not to mention proprietary MATLAB toolboxes or specialized Stata modules.
Likewise, a lot of the above packages have pretty sweet site-wide deals with R1 universities. If you're at a smaller, foreign one, you're out of luck.
Wolfram Mathematica ($890/yr)
Magma ($2500/yr)
Maple ($680/yr)
COMSOL ($1500,yr)
Matlab ($500+/yr)
Seems like a very strange position to take, in my opinion.
Why does the field of mathematics suddenly now need to be "fair" and give everyone access to the same tools? Has that ever been the case in academics? It's always been a competition for name-recognition, grants, institutions, etc.
Macsyma / Maxima was an MIT developed CAS system back in the 60's that was proprietery until they sold it off to IBM for a tidy sum. Magma actually has free access if you're in the US, otherwise you pay. That's not to mention proprietary MATLAB toolboxes or specialized Stata modules.
Likewise, a lot of the above packages have pretty sweet site-wide deals with R1 universities. If you're at a smaller, foreign one, you're out of luck.