[Opensource] BBC Article - Schools warned off Microsoft
Stephen Bloomer
sbloomer at stpeters.vic.edu.au
Wed Oct 31 12:40:47 EST 2007
I hear what you are saying, and I would like Microsoft to use an open
source format but they have not and we have to live in the here and now.
The old format was/is bloated and long overdue for an upgrade. The new
format is more reliable, and files are more compact (at least 1/3rd
smaller from what we have seen).
It took less than 5 minutes work to make our whole network compatible
with Office 2007. Our staff do not even know when they come across a
2007 file. It just opens in 2003 and they see no difference. Users do
not have to "Deal" with any changes. If they do, your IT Department
needs a kick.
As for the ribbon, the old menu system was designed for an office
application that had about 100 items that users needed to access. By
Office 2003 there were over 1500 items in the menu and a lot of people
had trouble finding what they needed. In the same time our screens have
become larger and able to better display graphical interfaces. Yes the
old system was "Comfortable" but if we wanted to remain comfortable we
would have been riding horses to work as nobody would have liked to
learn what was required to drive a car.
Now we are in the group of people who have to work "with" the community,
not "beside" the community. Our students are getting Office 2007 on
their home computers and the students need to be able to go to and from
home with their work. If I run Open Office only, many students would
have problems. Yes they can download Open Office at home, and that may
be fine for the IT Students or people who have an understanding of these
things, but the average kid wants to just open the files and type. We
see kids that have trouble with a document and when asked what program
it was created in they reply "Windows". They don't care about MS Office
or Open Office.
Now on the other side. If it was up to me I would have our whole school
using Open Office, but we can't. BUT our administration staff are
required to be compatible with numerous State and Catholic departments.
Our teachers need to be compatible with our administration staff and the
students need to be compatible with the teachers. Here is how some
countries have fixed it. They legislated that all government documents
MUST be stored in a format that enables the public to access the data
without financial burden. This forces government departments to store
and use data in an open format. Once this occurs the other areas will
also see the financial benefit of moving to Open Office and there will
be no file format issues. To remain competitive, Microsoft would have
to make there format open to all.
Stephen Bloomer
support at stpeters.vic.edu.au
St. Peter's College
Cranbourne-Frankston Road
Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3977
Phone +61 3 5996 6733
Fax +61 3 5996 8277
-----Original Message-----
From: opensource-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:opensource-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Adam Barbary
Sent: Wednesday, 31 October 2007 11:12 AM
To: Open Source Software Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Opensource] BBC Article - Schools warned off Microsoft
Hi Stephen,
I am aware of the compatibility pack, but the issue remains with the
less technical staff who receive 2007 file formats from their
students. The students often don't know how to change their file
formats, and when these teachers receive these files and are unable to
open they panic which results in a request for help. Office 2007
provides no tangible benefits for the novice user, but introduces a
plethora of issues for existing users who become frustrated when they
are unable to locate common controls, and unable to share between
versions/platforms. This is something that a lot of people are not
taking into account when they "upgrade".
If users have to deal with new file formats, new menu layouts and
installing compatibility fixes, you may as well migrate to a free
solution. At least then your retraining doesn't have the added cost of
software on top of it, allowing your students to install at home as
well. Not to mention open formats that will be able to be read into
the future without having to pay for vendor software to read
proprietary formats. This is a trick that MS has been using for years
to force organisations back onto the upgrade treadmill. First you
receive documents created by the new software, then have to adopt this
software yourself. Office 95, 97, 2000, XP, 2003 and now 2007. In many
cases you're not buying features (most users rarely go beyond basic
formatting), instead you're buying compatibility.
/rant off <crawls back under rock>
Adam Barbary
Viewbank College
On 31/10/2007, at 8:26 AM, Stephen Bloomer wrote:
> If you are running Office 2003 and you install the Office 2007
> compatibility pack (Free and in MSI format for easy deployment) you
> staff will be able to open, save and modify Office 2007 documents
> and not even know that the different format exists and if you can't
> print them, the problem is with you print server, not the file format.
>
> Stephen Bloomer
> support at stpeters.vic.edu.au
> St. Peter's College
> Cranbourne-Frankston Road
> Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3977
> Phone +61 3 5996 6733
> Fax +61 3 5996 8277
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: opensource-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Adam Barbary
> Sent: Tue 30/10/2007 10:01 PM
> To: Open Source Software Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Opensource] BBC Article - Schools warned off Microsoft
>
>
>
> Nice find Cameron,
>
> Pity that Victoria has just inked a contract for $24 Million with MS.
> Given that XP already does what schools need and alternatives are
> often free, makes you wonder why there is an upgrade deal at all.
>
> Problems with Office 2007 are already becoming apparent as students
> begin to submit work in the new proprietary formats. The schools
> computer fleet, running Office 2003, are not equipped to read the new
> file formats. (Although there is an update available to read, not
> write) so students are unable to edit their documents at school and
> teachers unable to print them without assistance from tech support.
>
> Time to stop the money trail and install Open Office ;)
>
> Adam Barbary
> Viewbank College
>
>
> On 30/10/2007, at 8:58 PM, Cameron Bell wrote:
>
>> Schools warned off Microsoft
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7063716.stm
>>
>> Cheers
>> Cameron
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