Selective snip of argument in favour of FLOSS: >Open Source Software and Linux - avoiding a lawsuit >by Alan A Hodson > >In the not too distant future, when taxpayer groups decide to hold >their school districts and Board of Trustees accountable for the >senseless spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars in computer >technology purchases, especially software, there will be court >sessions where the Prosecutor will be grilling the district's Legal >Counsel with questions similar to these: > >P: Was the district aware of the existence of Open Source >applications that involve no cost and no licensing fees to install >in Mac and PC laptops? >LC: Yes, I am aware of at least one department that after purchasing >laptops found that they had no money left for software, so they used >StarOffice, an Open Source application that is equivalent to >Microsoft's Office... >P: Are you saying that the district knows that there are software >products that require no licensing, can be given to teachers and >students to use, and still insist on paying hundreds of dollars per >computer to provide basic functionality to desktops and laptops? >LC: I am told that "the real world" uses Microsoft, so the district >buys the product the child is likely to see in the workplace when >they graduate. >P: Please indulge me - what kind of car did you, madam, learn to drive on? >LC: It was a 64 Ford truck with standard transmission... >P: Did you learn to drive 64 Fords only, or were the skills learned >transferable to any car, anywhere, at anytime? >LC: You saw me parallel park this morning, what do you think? >P: I frankly was impressed... very precise maneuvering. The point >is, regardless of how you learn a skill, if you learn it well, you >will be able to use it appropriately in the future, don't you agree? >LC: It seems reasonable to accept that statement. >P: So, if the skill of learning word processing, spreadsheet use and >presentation software use is learned correctly, say using software >that loads and saves in the "real world" formats, as Open Source >software allows, then there is no need to spend all that money for >proprietary products, is there?
Ammo for use when I make my next pitch for switch to FLOSS. -- Sudev Barar Learning Linux _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/