On 10/05/13 09:22, Tony Pursell wrote:
Hi John
On 10 May 2013 00:09, John Oliver
<jp.oli...@ntlworld.com
<mailto:jp.oli...@ntlworld.com>> wrote:
I suppose it depends what's available on the platform. Looking at
schools and colleges on the UK the vast majority run Windows XP or
7. That's not necessarily because of the technical staff who are
often perfectly capable of using and managing a GNU/Linux system or
set of systems, not is it saying that Windows, Mac or Linux (etc)
has one better than the other. I've been using Ubuntu and other
distros for about 3 & 1/2 years now, but I also realise that Windows
7 as a platform in schools and in the enterprise is pretty good at
what it does, and I have grown to like Windows 7 a lot since its
release in 2009. But, seen as schools and colleges have been using
Windows since the 90s, it is simply easier to keep with it. Let us
not forget one of the main reasons education likes to stick with
Windows - MS Office, which is I find much more reliable and user
friendly than alternatives such as LibreOffice or KOffice. If you're
in education trying to teach children to word process it simply
isn't faesable to try to explain the difference between proprietary
and open-source software etc and then to get them to make a choice.
Such a thing would be a massive logistical operation too -
demonstrations on a projector screen would be wrong for everyone who
chose the other system, and would have to be done again.
So, basically, the point I am trying to make is that until Ubuntu
(or any alternative) can offer something that will really persuade
school/college technical staff to switch, then they won't. Why
bother messing on making the switch to something if it's just as
good and will take a lot of valuable time away from busy technical
staff? It's simply nonsensical as far as I can see, speaking from my
own experience.
I haven't time for a long reply, but the problem is one of digital
inclusion. In the classroom only, it is OK, but many students need to
do work at home and cannot afford Office products (or they pirate them).
Please feel free to criticise me :)
Tony
Hi,
It appears to be closed now...... well sort of
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1/comments/1834
Pete
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