Should Educational Institutions use Apache OpenOffice or other freeware?

Given the cost of Microsoft Office, and the prevalence of freeware that does the same thing, it seems bizarre that we as a nation pay for it? Should we save money by schools, colleges etc moving across to a free alternative?

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Reply 1

Malorys ballsack

what and kill the software industry?

Reply 2

MrMacho

Original post by Malorys ballsack

what and kill the software industry?

The software industry shouldn't be supported by the government.

Reply 3

Malorys ballsack

Original post by MrMacho

The software industry shouldn't be supported by the government.

I'm typing this on debian (using i3 window manager) nice in theory Macho but the reality is the software industry would die if everything was free and lots of jobs would be lost. What's the problem of paying for quality software and supporting industry?

Reply 4

Old_Simon

Some nations notably France simply prohibit Government departments and schools, local authorities etc from using branded (proprietary) software at all.

Reply 5

MrMacho

Original post by Malorys ballsack

If it's good enough, and better than the competition private individuals will pay for it or suffer advertising to pay for it. As far as education goes we should utilise any available freeware.

Reply 6

Old_Simon

Original post by Malorys ballsack

The software industry has ripped everybody off for years by skullduggery.

Reply 7

llys

Original post by MrMacho

Absolutely, yes. I don't know why most schools don't already do this.

Reply 8

Malorys ballsack

Original post by llys

Absolutely, yes. I don't know why most schools don't already do this.

Contrary to lies (I use OpenOffice) it's simply not as good. MS Office is also locked down using a propriety format which prevents it from being read by other software (and the OpenOffice converter is weak).

Reply 9

Old_Simon

Original post by Malorys ballsack

Ridiculous to say MS stuff can not be read by other software. An outright lie.

Reply 10

Malorys ballsack

Original post by Old_Simon

Ridiculous to say MS stuff can not be read by other software. An outright lie.

No it isn't. I did college work and had to convert my formats to pdf because MS had trouble reading it, equally the other way round OpenOffice can't render documents for ****. If you need evidence just try it.

Reply 11

Old_Simon

Original post by Malorys ballsack

Well you were using out of date software. So are you telling me Mac users can not access MS files ?

Reply 12

Malorys ballsack

Original post by Old_Simon

Well you were using out of date software. So are you telling me Mac users can not access MS files ?

OpenOffice has difficulty (worse it practically renders the document unreadable most of the time) no one said anything about Mac.

Reply 13

Old_Simon

Original post by Malorys ballsack

OpenOffice has difficulty (worse it practically renders the document unreadable most of the time) no one said anything about Mac.

Yes but you say that all computer users must be able to open MS files. So can Mac users open them ? And if so why can not OO? Not that what you say is either correct or relevant.

Reply 14

Malorys ballsack

Original post by Old_Simon

Yes but you say that all computer users must be able to open MS files. So can Mac users open them ? And if so why can not OO? Not that what you say is either correct or relevant.

Yeah k it's so incorrect it's even on the OpenOffice wiki.

https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOoAuthors_User_Manual/Migration_Guide_2006/Sharing_Files

I guess you know more than the developers though right?

Reply 15

Old_Simon

Original post by Malorys ballsack

Yes I do and I quote:

"By contrast, Microsoft Office files are stored in a proprietary format which is not human readable and not publicly documented. This causes problems for software developers writing filters for importing and exporting in Microsoft Office formats."

And this is the fault of OO how ?

AND FURTHER:
"OpenOffice.org can open Microsoft Office files. The reverse is not true: at this time, Microsoft Office can not open OpenOffice.org formats.If you need to send files to someone using Microsoft Office, save your file first in the native OpenOffice.org format, then save it to one of the many supported Microsoft Office formats. By doing this, you ensure that even if the filter can not translate perfectly, you have your original in its native format.
OpenOffice.org can not open or convert Microsoft Access files (.mdb) files directly, however it can access the data in the tables using DAO and ODBC. See the Database Guide for more information."

You are simply polluting this thread with Microsoft propaganda Funny how the whole of France and most of Germany and many other nations manage quite happily. But no. You do not deal with the substantive issue. You simply spread lies.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 16

Juichiro

Original post by Malorys ballsack

It seems then that this industry you support profits from the ignorance of large groups of people not too different that the fast/junk food industry's profits from health related ignorance.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 17

Old_Simon

Original post by Juichiro

It seems then that this industry you support profits from the ignorance of large groups of people not too different that the fast/junk food industry's profits from health related ignorance.

Yes it does. Nearly every Windows computer on the planet is riddled by viruses for a start.

Reply 18

Malorys ballsack

Original post by Old_Simon

This isn't the fault of OO but it is a practical problem. France and Germany have been using the system for a long time, they do not have to deal with the practical problems, by the way how is the French economy doing? I wonder if it would be any better with a software industry...

OpenOffice cannot open Microsoft Office files it can open OLD Microsoft Office files and it does an awful job, you could look at this yourself by googling for a document and opening it but you won't.