On 26/04/2013, at 23:57, "Charles-H. Schulz" <charles.sch...@documentfoundation.org> wrote:
> Hello Marc, > > > Le Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:15:07 -0400, > Marc Paré <m...@marcpare.com> a écrit : > >> HI Kannan and Charles, >> >> If we are to expound the values of LibreOffice in the educational >> sphere we need to list those values that really count. We already >> know of the obvious ones of file compatibility etc., but we need to >> work on the assets that really count to educational organizations. >> Here is what I believe LibreOffice needs to offer to become a solid >> contender in the "educational organization office suite arena". >> >> ======================== >> >> What I believe would be on an educational IT list of "must-haves" >> >> ======================== >> >> * LTS version (like it or not, an LTS version is most likely a >> show-stopper for most educational organizations here in N.America >> (not sure how much in EU or Asian etc markets), this is just the >> reality of the way the system works. Educational organizations work >> on long range planning and they do not like software where there is >> no long term support -- 2 yrs LTS is what I would consider the >> shortest acceptable term, and, even then, there would most likely be >> push back at such a short term, even making it 2.5yrs would be better >> than only 2yr LTS. Regarding LTS versions and LibreOffice: we just >> can't seem to acknowledge/admit to the need for an LTS version. We >> seem to think that the system will bend to our will, but it does not >> nor will it. Educational organizations work on fixed income delivered >> through political policy, these policies come with fixed terms and >> thus, budgets also then come with fixed terms of expenses. All IT is >> then measured by predictable costs of expense and LTS versions offer >> this -- that is to say, an LTS version represents to IT staff a >> predictable expense cost over a certain term of months/yrs. If you >> manage a small educational setup of 10,000 computers, then paying the >> MSO tax for an LTS version is a lot less trouble than going with >> another office suite that has no LTS and thus possible unpredictable >> costs of maintenance and trouble-shooting. Even FF has recognized >> this and has its own LTS version that is used by the edu. >> organizations.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Firefox#Extended_Support_Release]) >> >> * easily configurable to cloud solutions (we need to list the >> solutions). Educational organizations do not really care of MSO365 or >> of the MS cloud. They would prefer to work things out on their >> intranet. Different stack solutions are more interesting to them. I >> would suggest we propose a working variety of stacks, with proof of >> concept where educational organizations could see it at work, Some >> organizations may in fact team up with LibreOffice to make this work. >> >> * available and accredited support solutions for large enterprise >> installations (this is a must!!!) (if we are saving the organizations >> a large chunk of their budget, it then makes sense that they will >> have a bit of it to pay for IT support from TDF/LibreOffice >> accredited sources, it is pretty certain that the educational IT >> departments will use this money for technical help. All levels of >> help will most likely be best to make available to the organizations.) >> >> * available on many operating systems (we already have this) >> >> * a robust help network from experienced users (we already have this) >> >> * QA response (I don't really consider our QA worse than that of MS >> and the team is working on quicker QA) (our dev response to QA >> identified problems with the suite is quite rapid and IMO quicker >> than MS) >> >> ======================== >> >> Must haves for educational organization users >> >> ======================== >> >> * large bank of clipart installable on their intranet (we could have >> this from the openclipart.org site. The organizations will want to >> have the clipart reside on their system to optimize for speed. We >> could create a bank of clipart or banks of different sizes for their >> use or users' use -- downloadable from our extensions site) >> >> * bank of templates (we don't have enough, we need to establish a >> team of template creators whose primary objective is to create >> templates, the planning pages may be found here >> [https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Ideas/Template_team] >> >> * documentation that is easily obtainable and in large sets (we >> already have a prolific docs team that keeps all module textbooks up >> to date. Printed materials can be bought in small/large amounts from >> Lulu.com >> >> * a competent bibliographic tool. (by all accounts, the LibreOffice >> bibliographic tool is not useful enough for serious work. It has been >> suggested that it be scrapped and re-built. OR in the meantime, we >> could partner up with Zotero and make sure the Zotero plugin has >> oversight by our devs who would make sure the plugin work correctly >> OR alternatively, create our own Zotero plugin to LibreOffice. Either >> way, we would need to provide a competent bibliographic tool for our >> educational org. users [you may find a discussion here: >> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/LibreOffice_In_Academia] >> >> This to me would go a long way in making LibreOffice a serious >> contender in the educational organization office suite arena and help >> capture a larger portion of that market share. > > > > Here's my quick and frustrating comment on this. I have spent alongside > several people here about ten years pitching OpenOffice.org and since > over 2 years LibreOffice to various organizations: SMEs, large > companies and governments. To be fair, I haven't gone too much into the > education sector, and so you may well have more insight than me on this > one. > > What I wanted to say is that I have seen features added, bugs fixed, > small and big improvements occurring to the software suite for many > years. And each time one hurdle was overcome we were thinking that it > would have been the signal this or that major entity was waiting to > receive before making the decision to migrate. The reality is much more > frustrating than that. True enough, after some close contacts and > serious discussions some would. But for the most part, a migration from > an office suite to another involves so many changes that there is not > one improvement or feature that generally creates the right condition > for decision makers to switch. One day you're told about the VB macros. > Another about this or that specific feature in Excel that you'll lose > if you switch (and you're biting your tongue trying not to tell them > that if this feature in Excel is that important then their business is > doomed). And one day, one of them made the decision to migrate to > LibreOffice; another one to Google Docs. > > The decision is rarely taken on technical merit. It's a political > decision, be it driven by costs reduction, by concerns about digital > independence, nurturing and growing the local expertise and economy, or > even ensuring the workforce is skilled not in one product but in a > generic tool. > > I honestly do not think anyone will convince the education market to > switch because of that or this feature. MS Office being offered for > free to teachers is great news for them (here in France) because most > of them are not advanced users, and they get what they're used to > without paying anything, creating no disruption and keeping them happy. > Period. > > I think we could spend weeks discussing about this or that feature and > it still would not matter (at least not too much). Identifying the > decision makers and their process, getting the right message across, > be it political or otherwise is key. > > Best, > Charles. > >> >> Cheers, >> >> Marc >> >> >> >> Le 24/04/13 12:00 PM, Charles-H. Schulz a écrit : >>> They do it in France as well and in many other countries. The cost >>> is one argument, but then there can be other arguments on costs as >>> well. This being said, there are plenty of policy arguments to >>> counter that. >>> >>> best, >>> Charles. >>> >>> Le mercredi 24 avril 2013 à 20:26 +0530, Kannan Moudgalya a écrit : >>>> MS is giving this solution to India free of cost! >>>> >>>> Kannan >>>> I agree with Charles that it's mostly a political problem. I also agree with Marc that education sector wants certain features or at least some easy way to do certain things. One item that has been on my documentation wish list for years is a book (or series of tutorials) aimed specifically and teachers and/or academics, explaining how to do things they frequently want or need to do. Kind of a cookbook approach: here's the task you want to accomplish, and here's how to do it. These days I think video tutorials would be the way to go. Of course, such a project needs a team of people to produce the material: a team that includes people who know the audience and their requirements well. At this time we don't have such a team, and I can't see us being able to put together such a team. If we had some money to pay a few professionals whom I know, to do at least some of the work, then it could happen. Perhaps this is something I should develop into a costed proposal for consideration in next year's budget. --Jean -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to marketing+h...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
