[seul-edu] Re: File formats and distance learning

["Linux at DCE" <seul@dce.k12.wi.us>]

I have worked at about a dozen school disticts (most as outside
support and now full time at one.)  In every case, the decision to
switch to Microsoft Office was based more on the fact that the
state agencies provided and required MS-Office formatted
documents.  The "that's what is used in the real world" argument
was secondary.

That seems to be changing slowly and I am seeing more things
distributed in more universally accessable formats.  Instead of 
only MS-Word forms, we're starting to see more PDFs.  Instead
of Excel spreadsheets, we're seeing more .CVS files.  

This is great news.  We switched versions of Office because of
file format issues, not because the old version didn't work for
us or didn't have enough features.  

If file format were taken out of the equasion then we could
consentrate on the task of teaching students how to use a 
"word processor" and not how to use MS-Word, etc.  Our
teachers also wouldn't have to spend time learning the 
quirks of the latest version because of a forced upgrade to
remain compatible.

Now my suggestion; Make a "Create PDF" server using samba.  
You can use samba to create a network printer which accepts
a print job and creates a PDF file.  The user then can retreive
thier new PDF via a windows share.

If you are interested in the relevant part of my smb.conf file,
I'd be glad to post it.  I got the idea from a recent Linux Magazine
or Linux Journal article (don't remember which) but I had to change
things slightly from what was in the article to get it to work.

>>> drloss@suscom.net 01/29/03 07:15AM >>>
> After many letters to the directors and professors of the school, 
> I agreed to start converting the materials for them into standard
> format.
> 
> Many other people must have similar problems all over the world!
> 
> My question is to you : Are you interested in  promoting free
> software and open file formats in  schools and distance learning?
> 
> mike