[ubuntu-uk] Done wrote my MP!

[Ashley Hooper]

Here's my letter:
-----------------------------------------

Date:	 Thu, 23 Nov 2006 23:16:39 +0000 (GMT)
From:	"Ashley Hooper" <ash_hooper at yahoo.com>
Subject:	EDM 179 : SOFTWARE IN SCHOOLS
To:	simon at simonhughes.org.uk

Dear Simon Hughes,

I'm a Southwark resident of 5 1/2 years, and recently heard about EDM 179 which
John Pugh MP has tabled to encourage the use of free and open source software
in UK schools.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752

I notice you have not yet signed it and would like to encourage you to do so,
if I may.  I believe it's vital that, wherever possible, public money is not
spent on often unnecessary software licensing costs.  Free software such as
Firefox, OpenOffice, Thunderbird etc is rapidly increasing in popularity
worldwide, and for most tasks is now more than adequate; perhaps you already
use say, Firefox yourself on your computer?  I do believe it will become
increasingly difficult to justify expenditure on proprietary software where
user-friendly, robust, free alternatives exist as with the examples I've
mentioned.

Additionally, it is held that BECTA, the government agency responsible for use
of IT in education, often provide somewhat questionable advice to schools. 
BECTA's supplier relationships tend to favour proprietary software, and lend
themselves to 'vendor lock-in'.  Yet even BECTA's own case studies found
considerable cost savings in schools using open source software.

I must urge you to add your name to John Pugh's Early Day Motion number 179,
entitled "Software in Education".

Yours sincerely,

Ashley Hooper

-- 
"We do not inherit the earth                http://backtobreath.com/
  from our ancestors;                 ...--    __@
 we borrow it from our children"     ....---  _\<,_
 -- Antoine de St. Exupery                   (_) (_)
                                  Reg. user: Linux #390621 Ubuntu #7291

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