ORPA-1 tutorial - Free software for OR

Operational Research Practice in Africa (ORPA) series First ORPA conference, 7-8 April 2005 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Tutorial Free (and nearly-free) software for OR Alistair Clark, University of the West of England, Bristol. Aims: Awareness of what OR-relevant software is available for free or very cheaply. Target audience: OR practitioners and academics in poorer countries with very limited financial resources to perform OR. Pre-requisite: None. Learning outcomes: Awareness of free and nearly-free software for OR, including their strengths and limitations. Developing countries differ very much • From the technologically advanced (e.g., Brazil, Chile, India, China). • To the relatively deprived (e.g., West Africa). Brazil & Chile: • High availability of IT. • Strong OR presence and university researchers. • Sophisticated OR projects, eg, Agro-business and industry (Miguel Taube, Andrés Weintraub). • State-of-the-Art tools, e.g., AIMMS, Cplex. Resource-Poor Developing Countries • Less apparent demand for OR. • Less OR presence and fewer university researchers. • Fewer resources for IT. Specialist OR software • is often expensive and maybe difficult to purchase. • has little or no local technical support in poorer nations. Ł Can OR use free (or nearly free) software? Benefits of free software Free! Disadvantages of free software Often less powerful than paid-for software List of free software ...