I completely agree with Dr. Manjunath and Mr. Sukhdev Singh As Sukhdev mentioned: The cost of training remains the same irrespective of the software tool being taught - Open Source or Commercial. Also as Dr Manjunath has given a breakdown of costs - you can see that the least cost is what is paid to the faculty. And the faculty are people who have spent lots of time learning as well as putting together the program and revising it to make the learning effective. Dr. Manjunath has mentioned Rs. 800/- per head for 4 days boarding. This itself is a highly subsidized cost. If participants are asked to eat outside - there is no way we get food at such costs everywhere - I dont think this is the cost for any luxurious food - if we have to eat outside Sponsorship is not always as easy as it is made out. Every sponsor obviously looks for what he gets out of paying for such programs. And with today's conditions, it is high time we recognize that sponsorship will not necessarily be easy. Only when we try organizing programs do we know how much it costs - and also the time that organizers spend in planning the program - there is no value put to that. If we start costing all these elements - costs will zoom. My personal experience: (Our Foundation runs training programs in medical literature searching) At a medical college that wanted our program - when I quoted a fee of Rs. 275/- per head, I was told "Oh you charge - we can't pay" I was wondering "So - am I supposed to teach free" ? Vasumathi Sriganesh CEO, QMed Knowledge Foundation A-3, Shubham Centre, Cardinal Gracious Road Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099, India Tel: 91-22-40054474 / 75 Fax: 91-22-40054358 Web: www.qmedkf.org.in Indian Medical Sites- www.indianmedicalsites.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.