From dave at lab6.com Tue Jan 15 15:50:42 2008 From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:50:42 +0000 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" Message-ID: <2285a9d20801151250k13485a9fmb28ec1e3b7064cd1@mail.gmail.com> Hi All, Somewhat old news now, but: A UK government advisory group is recommending ODF long term and minimising upgrades to Office 2007 and avoiding OOXML. Becta is the UK Government's "key partner in the strategic development and delivery of its information and communications technology (ICT) and e-learning." It "provides strategic advice to school leaders, teaching staff and technical staff on the use of ICT in schools." - http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=becta >From http://fm.schmoller.net/2008/01/about-becta---p.html : On 9/1/2008 Becta published its review of Microsoft's Vista and Office 2007 products. This "draws conclusions on whether to upgrade, how to upgrade and document interoperability between home and school, recommending that schools and colleges review the findings of the report before considering any large-scale investment or deployment. Full report [291 kB PDF http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=35275]. ZDnet coverage of the issue http://www.zdnet.co.uk/misc/print/0,1000000169,39292025-39001084c,00.htm. The key recommendations from Becta's report are in the continuation post below. * Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended and mixed Windows-based operating environments should be avoided. However, Vista should be considered where new institution-wide ICT provision is being planned. * No widespread deployment of Office 2007 should take place until schools and colleges are sure that they have in place mechanisms to deal with interoperability and potential digital divide issues set out in the report. * To ensure widest compatibility of files between different applications, users of Office 2007 should not save in Microsoft's new Office format (OOXML). * Due to limitations in Microsoft's implementation of the Open Document Format (ODF) international standard, users should in the short term continue to save files in the more widely adopted .doc, .xls and .ppt formats. * Pupils, teachers and parents should also be made aware of the wide range of free-to-use products currently available and on how to use and access them. * The ICT industry should be facilitating easier access to 'free-to-use' office productivity software. -- Regards, Dave From fred.k at ieee.org Wed Jan 16 20:16:51 2008 From: fred.k at ieee.org (Fred Okuma) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:16:51 +0900 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801151250k13485a9fmb28ec1e3b7064cd1@mail.gmail.com> References: <2285a9d20801151250k13485a9fmb28ec1e3b7064cd1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Dave, Thanks, it's a good news even though becta's rejection of Vista is somewhat mild. >A UK government advisory group is recommending ODF long term and >minimising upgrades to Office 2007 and avoiding OOXML. Sounds like Office 2007 products are yet another user lock-in strategy by Microsoft. Fred From dave at lab6.com Thu Jan 17 06:23:01 2008 From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:23:01 +0100 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" In-Reply-To: References: <2285a9d20801151250k13485a9fmb28ec1e3b7064cd1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <2285a9d20801170323g6e728680x87244439323e7d44@mail.gmail.com> On 17/01/2008, Fred Okuma wrote: > > Sounds like Office 2007 products are yet another user lock-in > strategy by Microsoft. Also! They are dropping VBA support in Office 2009 - making the tonnes of work Novell have done to OpenOffice to support VBA become very exciting and strategically crucial for the FS movement :-) -- Regards, Dave From johns at fsf.org Thu Jan 17 13:29:43 2008 From: johns at fsf.org (John Sullivan) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:29:43 -0500 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] Windows' Genuine Disadvantage -- Vista kill switch removed Message-ID: <86ir1snw4o.fsf@ubik.office.fsf.org> New post up by Matt Lee, give it a digg: http://www.digg.com/microsoft/Windows_Genuine_Disadvantage_Vista_kill_switch_removed -- -John Sullivan -Manager of Operations -GPG Key: AE8600B6 From fred.k at ieee.org Sun Jan 27 07:57:31 2008 From: fred.k at ieee.org (Fred Okuma) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:57:31 +0900 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" Message-ID: A little bit off-topic now, but Becta gave one good reason in their report to recommend 'open software' in educational environment. My summary: - Some say students should be familiar with 'industry standard' software (meaning Microsoft Office). - Not true. Students are now highly computer literate. They can use many types of applications. - Multi-vendor skill sets should enhance employability in the 21st century, not limit it. Excerpt from the report follows. Becta recommends 'freely available software' instead of so-called 'industry standard software' in it ( http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=35275 ): ---- quote ---- Addressing issues of mind set 6.12 Some schools and colleges take the view that they need to use a specific proprietary software product because that product is widely used in industry and commerce, and, the argument goes, students need to be familiar with what is in the ?real world ?. ...(snip)... 6.13 However, students today are usually highly ICT literate, and are likely to use a wide range of ICT software in school or college ? possibly even a wider range at home. They can also happily switch from using computers at school to those at home or in the local library or internet caf?. They would be very unlikely to be incapable of using a particular version of an office productivity suite when they left school because they had become used to using (say) OpenOffice.org at school. 6.14 In summary, the ?familiarity ? argument is more suited to pupils of the 1980s and 1990s than to those of the 21st century. Indeed it would be a poor testament to today ?s ICT education if, on leaving formal education, young people were unable to use a basic software package (such as office productivity software or a web browser)just because it had some differences in functionality, or in its user interface, from the one they had used at school or college. Multi-vendor skill sets should enhance employability in the 21st century, not limit it. ---- end quote ---- Fred From dave at lab6.com Sun Jan 27 08:08:29 2008 From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:08:29 +0100 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2285a9d20801270508k6a1a5101hd2366ea6195d0c87@mail.gmail.com> On 27/01/2008, Fred Okuma wrote: > A little bit off-topic now, but Becta gave one > good reason in their report to recommend 'open > software' in educational environment. > > My summary: > - Some say students should be familiar with > 'industry standard' software (meaning Microsoft > Office). > - Not true. Students are now highly computer > literate. They can use many types of applications. > - Multi-vendor skill sets should enhance > employability in the 21st century, not limit it. Thanks for posting this - I think this is _highly_ relevant to free software advocacy! Talking to graphic design college professors and working professionals I hear this lame "oh its not industry standard so I would never use it" excuse _constantly_ - so I'm very glad to read this :-) -- Regards, Dave From matthew.flaschen at gatech.edu Sun Jan 27 09:04:57 2008 From: matthew.flaschen at gatech.edu (Matthew Flaschen) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:04:57 -0500 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801270508k6a1a5101hd2366ea6195d0c87@mail.gmail.com> References: <2285a9d20801270508k6a1a5101hd2366ea6195d0c87@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <479C8F89.6020809@gatech.edu> Dave Crossland wrote: > Talking to graphic design college professors and working professionals > I hear this lame "oh its not industry standard so I would never use > it" excuse _constantly_ - so I'm very glad to read this :-) Of course, using "industry standard" software just because it's industry standard is only reinforcing an accidental status quo. If we decide to use free software that supports open standards, that will create a more logical standard practice. Matt Flaschen From gpinterfirst at yahoo.com Sun Jan 27 09:16:51 2008 From: gpinterfirst at yahoo.com (gpinterfirst) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:16:51 -0500 Subject: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000001c860ef$43366e30$c9a34a90$@com> I agree. Multi application knowledge is a must in the 21st century. Unfortunately Bill Gates and his cronies force many of us to use their puny overpriced programs through market fixings and arm twisting. In my case I used Corel WordPerfect Office (which I think better than office), even before it was Corel. Now that I am in real estate I literally being forced to use MS products because the industry use it only MS programs. Gabe, Ah, yes politics. Poli- coming from the latin word meaning many, and tics- coming from the latin word meaning small blood sucking insects. -----Original Message----- From: advocate-bounces at badvista.org [mailto:advocate-bounces at badvista.org] On Behalf Of Fred Okuma Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 7:58 AM To: BadVista.org Advocacy Subject: Re: [BadVista Advocate] UK Becta recommending ODF/avoiding OOXML and Vista "not recommended" A little bit off-topic now, but Becta gave one good reason in their report to recommend 'open software' in educational environment. My summary: - Some say students should be familiar with 'industry standard' software (meaning Microsoft Office). - Not true. Students are now highly computer literate. They can use many types of applications. - Multi-vendor skill sets should enhance employability in the 21st century, not limit it. Excerpt from the report follows. Becta recommends 'freely available software' instead of so-called 'industry standard software' in it ( http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=35275 ): ---- quote ---- Addressing issues of mind set 6.12 Some schools and colleges take the view that they need to use a specific proprietary software product because that product is widely used in industry and commerce, and, the argument goes, students need to be familiar with what is in the ?real world ?. ...(snip)... 6.13 However, students today are usually highly ICT literate, and are likely to use a wide range of ICT software in school or college ? possibly even a wider range at home. They can also happily switch from using computers at school to those at home or in the local library or internet caf?. They would be very unlikely to be incapable of using a particular version of an office productivity suite when they left school because they had become used to using (say) OpenOffice.org at school. 6.14 In summary, the ?familiarity ? argument is more suited to pupils of the 1980s and 1990s than to those of the 21st century. Indeed it would be a poor testament to today ?s ICT education if, on leaving formal education, young people were unable to use a basic software package (such as office productivity software or a web browser)just because it had some differences in functionality, or in its user interface, from the one they had used at school or college. Multi-vendor skill sets should enhance employability in the 21st century, not limit it. ---- end quote ---- Fred _______________________________________________ Advocate mailing list Advocate at badvista.org http://badvista.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/advocate