As one who have been working with computers since there were no pc's
I have see many things. The use of a spreadsheet for what the school
is doing is not uncommon. It is easier to create the storage, but not the
reporting.
By biggest problem is the size of the file. Even the best of machines
can have trouble with that size of a file. If you must have it in a
spreadsheet,
could you have it in parts, such as grade, etc.
I have trouble working with big files on a laptop that was the fastest
you could get two years ago. I worked with a school district that
had computers that were a range of new to 10 years old, trying all
to do the same things, same software, same files, etc.
I am a true believer in free software - open source and other names
as well. I use open source for over 95% of my software needs. And the
other 5%, half the time I had to use "paid" software to do the job, and
the other half because I never learned to do the job with open source
software.
I find it easier to do newsletters with Pagemaker, but one day I will learn
to do it with OOo. I find it easier to use older software, than to learn
the
newer stuff. BUT if there is software that can do the job and it costs
nothing to get and use, I am all for it. Every time I setup someones
computer, I make sure that they have everything they need in open
source software.
If anyone need to convince a school about open source, I do remember
reading information and articles sent from OOo's people about OOo
and schools. Many schools are either including or switching to OOo.
I would start with OOo's site for ideas. I hope the schools around
here will convert soon, but it looks like it is in the works.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Knecht" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <users@openoffice.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: [users] help moving a public middle school in San Francisco to
FOSS
Christian Einfeldt wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> I now have a vexing problem that is posing a rather serious obstacle to
> that
> migration. The problem is a massive .xls spreadsheet that the school
> uses to
> track the students' behavioral development, meaning do they do their
> homework, do they arrive to school on time, do they participate in
> classes,
> are they misbehaving, and so forth. This document, called the
> "paychecks"
> Excel spreadsheet, is reported every two weeks. This spreadsheet is a
> mission-critical tool for the school. We will not be able to move the
> school to FOSS unless we are able to convince the principal that OOo
> can
> handle this mission-critical document.
>
<SNIP>
Is there a chance that the slowness is a conversion from Excel to OO
scalc format each time the document is opened? What happens if you
open the spreadsheet (slowly) and then save it as a native Open Office
document? How fast does it open the new copy?
Good luck with what you are trying to do. It's exciting and I'm sure
everyone here would love to see you be successful.
Cheers,
Mark
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