The son of Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak has been told he cannot use his Apple Macintosh computer in his final university examinations, putting him at a marked disadvantage.

Wozniak junior studies law at Duke University and will sit his finals in mid-December, where one exam is taken on a computer. Professors require students to use a PC program that locks out the hard drive and stops students copying previously prepared work, to ensure their answers are typed in on the day of the exam.

Appealing to Mac enthusiasts in an email discussion group, Wozniak said the teachers at Duke have banned students from using Macs, even when they run Virtual PC software which makes them behave as if they were PCs. "The teachers aren?t happy about the fact that text can be copied from the Mac side into the PC side," Wozniak said. "I would be interested in suggestions ASAP as to which software or techniques might restrict access to the Mac side."

The 20 law students at Duke that use Macs all face sitting the exam using pen and paper, putting them at a disadvantage compared with students using PCs and word processors. The Wozniak family hopes it can find an answer which satisfies the teachers? requirements before the impending exam.