Do we need to buy Office 2010 as there are going to be free(?) web versions?

[skunk]

Planning our upcoming purchases at present and was wondering what people thought about the above.

Do we as a school need to purchase this software (as an upgrade to 2003) for student use if the free versions are available online? Moving to the cloud is where it is at after all.

Before anyone asks, we have tried OpenOffice and it was not well liked (but it is still installed as an option) and google docs (why bother when we have 2003 installed).

We now have 100Mb internet connection with very good reliability now that it is not subject to leaves on the trees and the tides in the bay so access should not be a problem.

Thoughts?

[Dos_Box]

If you like adverts go for it. I have to be honest here, Office 2010 is quite tasty, and, to Microsofts credit, they have concentrated on useabilty features rather that back end stuff that no one ever (and I really do mean ever) uses. The paste preview, the new Outlook layout and features and teh ability to make it black are all winners IMHO.

[Gatt]

IMHO, i would splash the cash and buy Office 2010 and install it locally to save the earache if you lose Internet Connection and everyones work is lost!

[Domino]

URK! danger will robinson

has anyone considered the effect of a US company storing your files, which could include sensitive pupil information? Also do they provide an encrypted channel to the apps?

I'd be VERY sure to answer any and all issues of that nature before even considering it

[srochford]

Might be worth looking at Sharepoint 2010 and hosting the web apps in house.

The Microsoft demo yesterday was very impressive in terms of what you can can do. Of course, demos are supposed to be impressive and I've no idea how good it will be for real or what you have to buy to get it to work but at least that way you have it hosted in house and don't have to worry about external problems (someone will dig up the fibre outside at a critical time!) and privacy problems.

[jcollings]

I guess it could also be a pain at exam time etc when students need to access the apps but not the internet. I'm sure that is solvable but it's just something else to think about.

[CyberNerd]

URK! danger will robinson

has anyone considered the effect of a US company storing your files, which could include sensitive pupil information? Also do they provide an encrypted channel to the apps?

I'd be VERY sure to answer any and all issues of that nature before even considering it

this is the assurance that google give when they hold Documents off-site (in Ireland)
Google Apps

[Sarconia]

Definitely buy it and install it locally. It's actually quite nice to use and you can imagine the headache all of the staff and students would give you if the Internet did happen to go down for a day or two.

[skunk]

I would personally prefer to install it locally, just thought I would see what the reaction was the idea.

Better talk nicely to the bursar.................then persuade staff to re-write their worksheets!

[GrumbleDook]

URK! danger will robinson

has anyone considered the effect of a US company storing your files, which could include sensitive pupil information? Also do they provide an encrypted channel to the apps?

I'd be VERY sure to answer any and all issues of that nature before even considering it

Google have signed a safe harbour agreement to cover this, as investigated by Tom Barrett and others using Google Apps in the academic arena.

[john]

What's the licence agreement for the free online version of MS Office say for corporate / education use? Is it truly free for all or is it strictly for home / personal use and thus baring schools, charities etc from using it?

Personally I would be budging to get Office 2010 as it really looks nice and is a nice product and should go down well in schools. Certainly 2007 has gone down very well for us, a couple of niggles with Publisher (but we all expected those really!) other than that its been fine and very well received by all. In-fact it as more the Administration/ Support staff that had niggles / issues which were easily communicated to us in a calm sensible way and some one to one training resolved those nicely. The teachers love the new live preview stuff in 2007 which they say makes creating worksheets better and easier!

[nadeem]

What's the licence agreement for the free online version of MS Office say for corporate / education use? Is it truly free for all or is it strictly for home / personal use and thus baring schools, charities etc from using it?

I've not really had a chance to read up yet, but I can tell you its definitely going to be free/licenced to Live@Edu users if that helps at all.

[LeMarchand]

Google have signed a safe harbour agreement to cover this, as investigated by Tom Barrett and others using Google Apps in the academic arena.

Maybe I'm a bit (OK, I'm almost certainly ), but I have little trust in the promises of any commercial entity. Especially one who decides to digitise every book it can get its hands on without the copyright holders permission as it knows that its lawyers can fight off any possible law suit.

[CyberNerd]

Maybe I'm a bit (OK, I'm almost certainly ), but I have little trust in the promises of any commercial entity. Especially one who decides to digitise every book it can get its hands on without the copyright holders permission as it knows that its lawyers can fight off any possible law suit.

It isn't just a promise, it's backed up by a commercial contract for customers.
Google Apps

[LeMarchand]

It isn't just a promise, it's backed up by a commercial contract for customers.
Google Apps

But what they did with the book scanning was knowingly in contravention of copyright law. If they're not concerned about flouting the law, I don't see that they'd be overly concerned about reneging on a contract.