[ubuntu-uk] ubuntu-uk Digest, Vol 21, Issue 33

[Ciaran Mooney]

>> Could someone outline for me the benefits of using OSS in schools and other
>> publicly funded bodies- I feel in need of someone with knowledge to tell me,
>> Caroline

> 4. Ability to provide software to students, schools can allow students
> to do work at home, such as writing essays, as long as they have a PC
> if the school uses Free software then they can give out copies. This
> allows poorer people to receive a better education, as much software
> is now more expensive than the minimum hardware needed for a working
> system.
> (MS Office 2003, student version: ?119.99 WinXP home SP2 ?176.99
> source Amazon.co.uk)
> ArsTechnica budget box is $500, (roughly ?250),
> thus hardware cheaper than the MS OS and Office suite.
> And that's not counting all the other software.

OOOO I never thought of that one. Good, I'll remember that.

> Or is it OK to require people to have money to get an education?

Here here! Expecting a child to have a computer at home is definately
a long shot in many schools, at the least they can provide them with a
copy of OpenOffice on CD so they can do that work without breaking the
law.

Though I do expect many run cracked copies of Office, but the if the
schools adopted OpenDocument then that would mean more update of
OpenOffice, until Microsoft actually adopt an international standard.

Ciarán