One week later I arrived in Pittsburgh and CMU, quickly got a computer account. While browsing the various docs about their computer systems (I was trying to login into a “general purpose Linux machine” which I supposedly had access to — I actually hadn’t since they had forgotten to create the account on this specific machine), I discovered that the monthly fee for an user account at CMU was $105. Still stunned.

Let’s mention that activating an ethernet outlet is also a charged service, just as registering a machine on the network (so yeah, you (or your department) have to pay both the ethernet outlet activation fee plus the machine registration fee). Isn’t this whole system crazy ? Isn’t it normal work to activate an outlet on a switch configuration/plug a ethernet wire in the said switch or to hit the validation button of a probably automated script to add a machine to the network ?