<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi Pete,<br>
<br>
I'm a biology and geology teacher in highschool, in southwestern
France.<br>
<br>
In my highschool and in many highschool now in France, we let the
choice for students and for teachers to have MS office and Libre
Office on the same computer.<br>
<br>
Libre Office is installed everywhere and really used. MS office is
disappering slowly because the headmaster just said that the
teachers who want MS Office have to pay for the lastest licence by
using pedagogicals credits.<br>
<br>
For us, the main trouble is not to use free software under
windows, but to use only free software by installing GNU/Linux.<br>
<br>
As teacher, we propose to student several kind of exercices which
are easy to do with both suite.<br>
<br>
Hope it helps.<br>
<br>
Laurent<br>
France<br>
<br>
Le 06/11/2013 22:22, Pete Wright a écrit :<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAO2BaqzKJmfsRAf=6O3+kQ6ioenGyr6K7x5RaFhrg9WiMx+Gcw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>I know what the answer to that question
should be, but I am old enough to know how
ignorant I am (plenty), so this is a
legitimate serious question, not troll-bait.<br>
<br>
</div>
My 16-year-old high school junior is in a State
of Washington program (Running Start) that lets
students start college early, which she is
doing, carrying a full load of college courses
plus a couple of high school classes.<br>
<br>
</div>
She is bright and reasonably computer literate,
but she has been writing for years and when the
rest of the computer environment doesn't let her
work as fast as a word processor does, she gets
frustrated. She also has some health issues, so
just letting her sink or swim on her own is not
the best option; hence my effort to help her.<br>
<br>
</div>
The most recent bump she has hit is a biology
assignment to make graphs out of data; the examples
(samples) are provided as txt files and the
instructions are to use Excel. Our first attempts to
do the job with Libre calc and/or base failed. Her
instructor, via email, just says "use the computers
at school if you don't have Excel."<br>
<br>
</div>
We don't own MS Office and because of her health and
living more than am hour away from campus, using the
school's computers are not often a good option.<br>
<br>
</div>
So, should she be able to do in LIbre what she would be
able to do in MS Office? (I am assuming the college does
not make much use of the fanciest bells and whistles
that probably differentiate the two suites.)<br>
<br>
</div>
I can and do teach kids and adults how to use Gimp and
Libre Writer instead of their high-priced counterparts,
but when it comes to spreadsheets and such I barely know a
range from an operator, so your responses can be basic to
the point of primitive without danger of insulting me.<br>
<br>
</div>
I am interested in broad general answers to the broad
question in the subject line, but would like to hear
finer-grained answers about the graph-generation issue, as
well.<br>
<br>
</div>
I tried a few years back to organize a local organization to
persuade our schools to use Open Source software instead of
proprietary stuff, but the teachers were all either Apple-only
or totally computer illiterate. When the others gave up, I did
too, and the effort fizzled. But I remain dedicated to using
and proselytizing Open Source; just not very good at it.<br>
<br>
</div>
Helplessly yours, Pete<br>
<div><br>
<br>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
<br>
<div><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>