I have a real open source crisis at my hands. My ’school’ IT department has been pushing for the implementation of Microsoft Office 2007 in our 60 machines. The funny thing is, since our IT head is also our supplier, he too is pushing for this because he probably gets a commission. I’m the only one who has offered an alternative, Open Office, naturally.
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Anybody up to writing good directory software?
Tue, 2007-02-20 11:17 — David JonathanSince the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).
Is better education the key to finding better software?
Sat, 2007-03-03 03:25 — Edward RusselI read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.
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pandionknight
4 years 44 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago
That sucks Dave. I used to be a
That sucks Dave. I used to be a parent governor at my kids school and received much the same blinkered attitude when I suggested Linux and OOo for their upcoming IT suite upgrade.
pogson
4 years 44 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago
Fight back! Anyone who is the
Fight back!
Anyone who is the least bit open-minded would be interested to read
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf (contains real comparisons of OO vs Office)
and
https://forums.scc.ca/forums/scc/dispatch.cgi/public/docProfile/100009/d...
which outlines the OOXML proposal and discussion. There are many cogent arguments given in the discussion. There are links to sites where the OOXML standard is exposed for what it is, vendor lock-in.
Set up demonstrations. Make sure the people who matter in the decision have tried OO.
Demand numbers. How much is Office going to cost?
Talk about lock-in. What will happen when correspondents start receiving OOXML from your organization? What will happen when you start receiving OOXML from correspondents? Should your school be sending money to M$ for no improved functionality?
Talk about functionality. Will Office be able to produce/use ODF, and pdf? NO! Why not? Will OO? YES!
Phlosten
4 years 44 weeks 5 days 2 hours ago
Can anyone say 'conflict of interest'.
Can anyone say 'conflict of interest'. If he is the supplier than the choice should be removed from him, simple as that. If he wants to be involved in the decision process and not a sales process then he should not have the commercial conflict.
I'd be making the sure conflict of interest part is taken seriously.
bhorst
4 years 44 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago
OpenOffice is going to be the better
OpenOffice is going to be the better choice in the long run. The open standard ODF file format is very important to me and I'd suggest adding that to your list of arguments. Further, features like PDF export, Flash export, the built-in vector graphics tool Draw, and others are unique to OOo and not available in MSO. Plus, with OOo you are not forcing your students to purchase and install an expensive app at home just to be compatible with the school. They can download OOo for free, or choose from numerous other compatible apps.