I've got next years software on my desk, (we're trialling it in a network environment, and it does indeed feature Star Office. Did thank the guy at Learning & Teaching Solutions :)
I guess the solution is to get all OU students to use Linux since that would create a big push for the University to support it.
Hi Matt,
Some of the Open University courses have this approach too depending or not on whether they allow electronic assignment submission
Depends on the OU course and it's age - not just an e-assignment issue as far as I'm aware. The basic online applications disc supplied to students is beginning to feature either OOo or Star office (not had the latest yet so can't confirm personally), and there are courses which allow HTML or RTF work to be submitted via the e-assignments route. So becoming less MS specific.
There is even a Linux client version of their favoured groupware product out now, which I think they helped push for.
Some courses are based on use of Netscape rather than IE browsers, etc.
I'm aware of a course at the moment being piloted which is making efforts to be OS friendly via Java, etc. and even the course website etc are open source via Linux, Apache, Tomcat etc.
Older courses do tend to say MS Word Doc format - but a doc version old enough that I understand most open source or Linux friendly wp's will output in.
There is a lot of movement in such things behind the scenes, but the OU can be ponderous at times. As new courses appear, and old ones get updated I think things in this area will improve a lot though I expect that until all apps that a Uni might use are available on all platforms, there will always be difficult choices and restrictions. I'm sure there will be a tendancy to go with the more popular OS based on installs in the student population, and ease of solving distribution and copyright issues with third party (or OU) materials.
Though I have heard suggestions (vague as yet) that (soon to eventually) it might be practical and possible for some courses to go down the Knoppix CD live distribution type route with everything for a course (including OS) on a bootable CD/DVD. That would make studying operating systems easy - just run the live Cd for the OS under study at the time.
Regards
John (fellow OU student)
On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 13:49:43 +0100 Matt Williams <matt@yewlands.com> wrote:
I cannot stress to you just how annoyed I am when even now some of my lecturers at University stipulate categorically that they want our assignments in MS-Word format. It is a farce -- and to think that I am doing a degree in Software Engineering. You'd think that
I've tried this route with my Apple, and I know there's loads of them *at* the OU, but they're not interested in porting there, so I think Linux is way off unfortunately.... On 2 Jul 2003 17:36:39 +0100, John Steventon wrote they'd
expand your knowledge of computer OS's.
I find this very surprising indeed. Which University do you go to?
Some of the Open University courses have this approach too depending or not on whether they allow electronic assignment submission
Matt
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