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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pandionknight
17 years 11 weeks 3 days 16 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
17 years 11 weeks 3 days 15 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
17 years 11 weeks 3 days 4 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
17 years 11 weeks 2 days 12 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.