On 24 May 2010 22:00, Bruno Girin <brunogi...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I have no idea what sort of software a school needs but I suspect > something like: > * Office software; They use MS Office because they pay for it. If they don't buy something they lose the money.
> * Some sort of basic ERP; SIMS. Vendor lock-in at its best; blame Capita. > * Basic document management; A network. What more do they need? > * Course management software; Generally Moodle, mostly LA-managed, though some do use private company-run Microsoft Learning Services (Sharepoint-based thing). > * Central user management with mass updates once a year when > pupils change. SIMS again. Education would be an ideal place to get FOSS introduced. However, schools have huge inertia when it comes to change. Even installing Linux on one laptop caused "problems" with a Novell network, for example (though I would suspect this was down to poor configuration and a creaking network). Teachers use what they know; Microsoft applications. Even "IT" teachers still don't have the skills or knowledge you would expect (yes, there are a few of us who do, but let's be realistic). Pupils save their work in whatever format their software defaults to. This means a fair number now expect the school software to open Office 2007 files and unless you know what the difference is they (or the teacher who can't open their work) complain to school IT support who promptly install the compatibility pack for Office 2003. Even as a teacher I have no input as to the software the school runs; I have even less say over infrastructure. I can promote FOSS all I want but as in the last xkcd [1] noone really cares. School management go off the recommendations of the LA and their own IT support/services; if they know MS products they will use MS products. If they know Novell networks they will use Novell. If they know Citrix they will use Citrix. Plus, they have money to spend so they have to spend it. The only way around this is to make FOSS cost money which pretty much defeats half of the argument on cost savings! I think what I'm saying is that schools are just like any other SME and should be treated the same, not as their own special, idealised, case. Jonathon [1] http://xkcd.com/743/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
