[Opensource] UK schools advised not to upgrade to Vista

[Adam Barbary]

Great link Cameron,

I too am concerned about the lack of support of ODF within Microsoft  
products. This lack of integration is a deliberate step by Microsoft  
to limit adoption by complicating the process for accessing an  
internationally ratified format. Given that most teachers do not use  
the advanced features of Word and Excel, there no compelling  need to  
migrate to Office 2007. OpenOffice is a much more logical step since  
OOo is available cross platform making it even easier to support.  
Combine this with the upgrade costs for Office 2007 and I believe that  
it would be better  to maintain the current suit, or move to OOo. And  
all this is before you begin to look at accessibility for students.

On a different but related note, recently a developer friend of mine  
returned several applications for employment to their senders after  
they supplied the applications in Office 2007 formats. The application  
criteria stated that the file formats must be either pdf, office  
2000/2003 or ODF. He simply returned the documents stating that the  
format was not supported. His argument was that he was not about to  
change his office software in order to read a third party's documents,  
and that applicants should read the application criteria carefully!

Cheers,

Adam Barbary



On 12/01/2008, at 6:03 PM, Cameron Bell wrote:

> A UK government agency has advised schools to avoid upgrading to  
> Microsoft's Vista and Office 2007 software, saying that upgrade  
> costs would not be offset by "appropriate benefit."
> Article:    http://www.cio.com/article/171450
>
> The whole open document file format needs to be pushed harder in  
> schools. (IMHO)
>
> Cheers
> Cameron
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