The main argument of the articles is based on the assumption that PhD graduates are equally qualified for faculty positions regardless of their university. While I agree that a most brilliant candidate can come from a university that is not top-ranked, and that a bad candidate can come from a top-ranked university, I do believe that application profiles of faculty candidates from a prestigious university tend to look more compelling on average, and not only because of the name of the institution.

It has not been tested with octave. Since it mostly uses core functionality only , I would expect that it is largely compatible, though.