You only have to read a couple of posts in this blog to know that I am a huge proponent of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software).  I have been fascinated with it since learning about it and have a lot of respect for the developers that donate their time to the great projects available out there.

The reality in both the corporate and education world is that not every user has that same respect or patience for software that is very similar to the programs they use everyday.  Sometimes they are downright blind to the fact that the software is a huge improvement over what they are using (OpenOffice 3.0 vs. Microsoft Office 2000).

There are issues with formatting which are causing the experiment at the school to fail.  We saved about $5000 by putting OpenOffice on the teacher laptops instead of Microsoft Office and at first blush it looked like it was going to work out very well.  However, teachers still use PowerPoint a lot and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations tend to format a bit differently in OpenOffice Impress.  My wife has been patiently using OpenOffice as well and it came to a head last night when one of her teachers for her Masters’ classes sent her document that did not format very well in OpenOffice.  This morning she was begging for Microsoft Office and I gave in.

Some of the teachers would smirk and say “I told you so” but those same teachers do not understand the power of FOSS and what it can do for a school district with a very limited budget.  They also don’t understand how it can force the hand of a company like Microsoft that gives a negligible discount to schools yet offers software to other non-profits (trust me public schools are VERY non-profit) for $20/license.

In the end, we do not have the budget to upgrade the teachers at this time, but I have given them the freedom to purchase Microsoft Office on their own if they choose.  I can support both and continue to use OpenOffice myself because I prefer it.  I view this as a lost battle and will continue on with the war against over priced software.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.