[ubuntu-uk] The problem with Bug #1

[pete smout]

On 10/05/13 09:22, Tony Pursell wrote:
> Hi John
>
> On 10 May 2013 00:09, John Oliver
> <jp.oliver at ntlworld.com
> <mailto:jp.oliver at ntlworld.com>> wrote:
>
>     I suppose it depends what's available on the platform. Looking at
>     schools and colleges on the UK the vast majority run Windows XP or
>     7. That's not necessarily because of the technical staff who are
>     often perfectly capable of using and managing a GNU/Linux system or
>     set of systems, not is it saying that Windows, Mac or Linux (etc)
>     has one better than the other. I've been using Ubuntu and other
>     distros for about 3 & 1/2 years now, but I also realise that Windows
>     7 as a platform in schools and in the enterprise is pretty good at
>     what it does, and I have grown to like Windows 7 a lot since its
>     release in 2009. But, seen as schools and colleges have been using
>     Windows since the 90s, it is simply easier to keep with it. Let us
>     not forget one of the main reasons education likes to stick with
>     Windows - MS Office, which is I find much more reliable and user
>     friendly than alternatives such as LibreOffice or KOffice. If you're
>     in education trying to teach children to word process it simply
>     isn't faesable to try to explain the difference between proprietary
>     and open-source software etc and then to get them to make a choice.
>     Such a thing would be a massive logistical operation too -
>     demonstrations on a projector screen would be wrong for everyone who
>     chose the other system, and would have to be done again.
>
>     So, basically, the point I am trying to make is that until Ubuntu
>     (or any alternative) can offer something that will really persuade
>     school/college technical staff to switch, then they won't. Why
>     bother messing on making the switch to something if it's just as
>     good and will take a lot of valuable time away from busy technical
>     staff? It's simply nonsensical as far as I can see, speaking from my
>     own experience.
>
>
> I haven't time for a long reply, but the problem is one of digital
> inclusion.  In the classroom only, it is OK, but many students need to
> do work at home and cannot afford Office products (or they pirate them).
>
>     Please feel free to criticise me :)
>
>
> Tony
>
>
Hi,

It appears to be closed now...... well sort of
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1/comments/1834

Pete