On Thursday 27 November 2003 16:21, John Dean wrote:
On Thursday 27 November 2003 15:46, Alan Harris wrote:
Hi All,
Some thoughts for you re: open file formats ;
At Work I use a Mac, I also use a PC, at home I use a Mac and a PC running Linux. All three run OpenOffice 1.0. I have no problems transferring files (in fact when I can download the newer Openoffice I'll have exactly zero problems, apart from databases that is!).
On both my Macs I have MS Office X and, in work we have a deputy head using office X-pletive on Windows X-pletive. I can't get his powerpoint presentations to load properly on the Mac USING powerpoint! However, they work beautifully if I import them into Keynote!
OpenOffice is free, it's inclusive, it's cross platform BUT, as our Deputy Head so eloquently phrased it - "I don't want to learn OpenOffice!".
Your deputy head should renamed the d**k head
As a thought, ask your parents (and teachers) how many of them have a fully legal copy of MS Office and can prove that fact - I'm sure that the answers (truthfully now..) won't surprise anyone on this list but, they will be vigerously refuted by the powers that be.
There is no place for MS rubbish on my machines. When my son was learning ITC he wasn't allowed to use MS Office at home
If you listen to your staff and parents then nothing can possibly be changed because MS is what everybody uses - I've already proposed what you have and been shot down.
This is a bit of an over generalization. I, my family and friends all operate a Microsoft Free Zone and have done for years
So, I've made my own decision - My home is now a Microsoft Free Zone - any complaints from the school that my daughters attend will be met with the statement " Openoffice is a free download with no catches and it's cross platform - if you want to read my childrens files then DOWNLOAD THE B****Y THING , INSTALL IT AND ACTUALLY TEACH THE KIDS SOMETHING USEFUL! "
Good for you. I did the same thing
I'm sick of teachers (sorry
to offend anyone here but it's a fact of life), I'm sick of management and governors who have little or no understanding of I.C.T. and I'm sick of being ripped off my Microsoft. During a time of falling roles and reduced budgets those of us who have children in school should remember that each child is worth approx £3K per annum to that school. As tax payers and parents WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD ON THESE MATTERS. Maybe we should actually be considering the transfer of our children from non-oss using schools to oss using schools wherever it is possible. They'll understand a slap in the pocket far better than they'll understand a technical or ideological argument.
My final thoughts come from some comments made by Mark Rogers, Apple UK Managing Director, made in MacFormat Christmas 2003 edition (An Apple For Teacher) -
"The question is: what are we trying to prepare children for? It should be about learning and giving them the skills that they really need when they go into the workplace, such as being able to find information or being creative. It's not about teaching them how to use Excel. It's not about the application but the process, and we think that can be done on any platform."
I totally agree and that is why we released Rekall as a GPL application. People need to know about physical and conceptual design (of databases) not how draw pretty input forms. Wha good are pretty looking forms and reports if the underlying database design is useless. Kids come to me for job interviews. They tell me that they how to design a database with MS Access, but when I ask them to explain what is meant by the term data normalization they haven't a clue. These are kids with A level ITC. If kida are not taught the basic concepts then what chance do have in the big bad world
A - level ICT syllabuses make a big point of extolling the virtues of client - server and distributed databases but then accept coursework projects done in Access (what is all that about?). I am really having a hard time with all the crap we are told to teach as a direct result of the MS monopoly and the legacy personnel designing these courses. regards garry
Alan
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Regards John
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