The labs are designed to implement ideas from lecture using software available to University of Michigan students. In fact, however, all the software used (with the exception of ArcView) is available to everyone (either because it is public-domain, a demo version exists, or a time-limited executable is available). Thus, the labs have some utility even if the user does not currently own the software.
Two operating systems are used in class: Windows, and UNIX. Those without access to UNIX will not be unduly limited, however, as products exist permitting one to do similar things in Windows. For example, the geostatistics lab comes in two flavors: one utilizing Geo-EAS (a public-domain UNIX product), and the other utilizing GS+ (a Windows product): either will get the general ideas across. Consider another example: while we use xv (a UNIX utility) to do our image file conversion, many other packages exist under Windows to do the same kinds of image conversion.
The labs are perhaps the major strength of our site: with some patience and time a user can generally proceed through them on his or her own. They complement the lecture topics, and give the student some hands-on exposure to applications of the ideas treated in the modules.