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The Open Source Threat

, 23rd September 2010 at 12:14 AM (1517 Views)

I commend Gary Clawson from the North West Grid for Learning for his recent report about how, in these stringent times, the use of Open Source and Open Content can saves schools and LAs significant amounts of money.
There are a number of good summaries and articles on the report already on the Tinterweb, most of which have many additional constructive comments so rather than re-hash the collective back patting which us going on I will instead talk about a series of points I raised about the report on a thread in Edugeek.

The title of this thread is The Open Source Threat because that is what it truly is. A threat … a threat to balanced judgement, a threat to looking at ... Read more...

Updated 14th March 2012 at 09:07 AM by GrumbleDook

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Comments

spannerman2 - 27th September 2010 08:23 AM
Great stuff..as a long standing apologist for FOSS I have got to agree with much you are saying.
The NHS CIO is adamant that they would not contemplate a desktop migration to FOSS due to the overhead of training and compatibility. Sirius PLC (no less) advised Bristol Council likewise, and my experience of the teaching profession concurs with them both.

my feverent wish is for this debate to stop, i have no desire to replace windows 7 with ubuntu or MS office with Oracle Office with all the pain and no real gain practically or ethically.

I dont like re training, i like acquiring new skills and taking advantage of new opportunities the FOSS Windows debate seems to be middle aged blokes squbbling over yesterdays broken models. Betamax v VHS, duh what's either?
monkeyx - 3rd October 2010 05:49 PM
Well I like new learning skills, so I retrained my asp.net/c# skills and learned php to help support and develop using Moodle at our school. Some may have even said that this was re training LOL.

I do agree that retraining is a big part of implementing change.

Our school uses a mixture of open source and proprietary software, this creates no issues for staff or learners. I personally find implementing back end systems with OSS, but implementing any back end solution is easier . Many pupils in our area do use open office at home, as why pay for commercial software when doing your homework

Why do many so people(non school staff) want to make this a black and white issue. And start chucking FUD in. Shame more schools don’t make up their own mind instead of relying on LA advisors and third party IT consultants
Tim