--- Richard Rothwell
Hi All,
Hello, ** I have kept this on-list, for the time being **
It has been suggested that the relationship between some exam board syllabuses and certain Microsoft products is not in the interest of fair competition. In my involvement with schoolforge.org.uk I have been asked to investigate this and see if there is grounds for a complaint to the Offiice of Fair Trading.
I cannot comment from a teaching point of view, but I certainly feel that Microsoft do have a de facto dominance in schools. I am 20 and throughout all my school life (and even now at University), everything we do one computers (or have done), has been centred around Microsoft. We are almost forced to use it, and given no alternative unless we go and look for one. Bringing school children into IT (as is the government's initiative) means that they should be made aware of Linux, yet the just isn't happening. 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 they'd expand your knowledge of computer OS's. Going back to school though, when I was in sixth-form, I setup two Linux proxies for a school in Purbeck (as I was doing my A-Levels). Since we were using RM, they have an unfair biased to using MS-based software. It is quite annoying since their function depends greatly on the existance of the network using Windows, etc, for many cases. -- Thomas Adam ===== Thomas Adam "The Linux Weekend Mechanic" -- www.linuxgazette.com ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/