[school-discuss] Costs of software choices & social change

[justin-r-swain@att.net]

The politicians and administrators need to be both
informed of software alternatives, costs and their fiscal
responsibilities to the public.

If the current persons in power do not choose to explore
and implement less costly but effective software and
operating systems then work collectively to remove them
from their positions of power. The process takes
research, time, money and williness to fight, but the
rewards can be sweet. 

Use tables to show compatiblity and cost between
OpenSource, GPL and lower cost choices to MS products.
Provide relative cost data from institutions who have
made the transition from all MS to a mix or total change
to another OS and or applications. List primary sources
for your data along with contact data. Create a web
presentation which includes links to non-MS resources.
There is no need to copy data which is currently on the
internet for public access.

--
Justin-R-Swain@att.net 
Linux and GPL Advocate
http://www.linux.com/
http://www.tux.org/dclug/
http://novalug.tux.org/meeting.html 
Assistive Listening Technology
http://home.att.net/~dc-shhh/			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
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> Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 10:01:45 -0600
> From: Dave Prentice <dprentice@uno.edu>
> Subject: [school-discuss] Alternative to MS Office
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> Hello all,
>     I'm an inner-city high school teacher and the designated Technology
> Coordinator for my school in New Orleans, LA. At a technology meeting
> last
> week I heard a report that the school district licenses Microsoft Office
> for
> use on PCs throughout the district, and that the anticipated cost
> citywide
> is $800,000 for next year.
>     Because of politics, the city is locked into Windows and Linux is
> not an
> option. However, I asked the networking chief who was conducting the
> meeting
> if he had considered Star Office (available on MS as well as Linux
> platforms) as a low- or no-cost alternative. He was familiar with it,
> and
> said that he was using it as a bargaining chip to get MS to lower its
> licensing price. <rant> Why even try to get MS to cut its price by 20%
> if
> you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by using something else
> for
> ZERO cost! </rant>
>     Does anybody have experience with highly respected products such as
> Star
> Office or others, that can replace MS office at low or no cost? I think
> it's
> ridiculous for a district that claims to be starved for cash (our 89
> year
> old building is being eaten up by termites -- we could sure use the
> money!)
> to spend almost a million bucks needlessly. I am looking for articles,
> price
> comparisons, case studies, etc. to give him showing that other school
> districts have switched away from MS with positive results. Anybody have
> any
> resources to pass on?
> Thanks,
> Dave Prentice
> prentice@instruction.com