moggy Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 As the planning starts for the next budget, the question of cost of MS licences has reared it's head. I've played with Open Office a bit and it seems fine, but using it across the whole school is another matter. I'd appreciate feedback on comparisons of Open with MS and any issues, etc. Does it work with SIMS? TIA
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Becta commissioned a study into the use of MSOffice 2007 in schools, in that study they compare other office suites such as OpenOffice. http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=28199 There are no educational reasons why schools need MSOffice, it usually comes down to the personal preference of the NM or HT and a few skewed arguments about 'industry standards' When it comes to SIMS - Capita have hardcoded SIMS so that reports do not open with office suites other than MSOffice, Capita support will not assist with OpenOffice problems. I believe that you can use the the Office viewer, or just install MSOffice on selected machines. 2
dhicks Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I'd appreciate feedback on comparisons of Open with MS and any issues, etc. OpenOffice presenter still doesn't support Flash embedded in PowerPoint files, which would stop you using resources like BoardWorks. -- David Hicks
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 OpenOffice presenter still doesn't support Flash embedded in PowerPoint files, which would stop you using resources like BoardWorks. The MSOffice powerpoint viewer will play them.
flyinghaggis Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Another issue you might have is that OpenOffice doesn't come with an email client so you may also need to look into a replacement for that (.ie Outlook)
mattx Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Another issue you might have is that OpenOffice doesn't come with an email client so you may also need to look into a replacement for that (.ie Outlook) Or Thunderbird.......? [ For Open Source ]
SPC Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 There is also an open source version of Eudora to.
SPC Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 This is also open sauce: You are rebelling against the EduGod comment about keeping it relevant arent you Matt... you rebel
mattx Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 You are rebelling against the EduGod comment about keeping it relevant arent you Matt... you rebel Just enjoying my lunch break !! [ It's not often I get one !! ]
ZeroHour Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 TBH I would say it came down to cost. If you can afford office I would buy office as I see it as an advantage to be trained in it primarily as generally that IS what you find in industry. Teachers should train principles not applications anyway so either is good but if you have used to app before it will be an advantage rather then the week of stumbling around until you find the location of mail merge's etc. I personally love MS Office and have no problems with 2007 and I love its new UI. Outlook is hard to completely replace but generally most people dont use the power of Outlook to the fullest. If anyone spouts open standards as a reason it REALLY does not make much difference. Its a weak argument imo and I think its madness to move if you have already started down the MS office path. No doubt this comment will attract attention
tmcd35 Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 (edited) These comments are just some of the reasons why I'm considering recommending an OpenOffice roll out here... TBH I would say it came down to cost. £30 per licence per machine compared to free... primarily as generally that IS what you find in industry. But not all industry. Some places use Macs and iWorks for instance. I worked for DSGi (PC-World) and they use OpenOffice 1 through out their stores. Teachers should train principles not applications anyway so either is good Agreed. If anyone spouts open standards as a reason it REALLY does not make much difference. The joke here is that the closed sourse M$ formats ARE the standards that everyone supports! Edited January 22, 2009 by tmcd35
dhicks Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 The MSOffice powerpoint viewer will play them. But doesn't let you edit PowerPoint files and change them around. I'm not sure if PowerPoint Viewer will let you annotate slide shows and save the annotations or not. -- David Hicks
Dafty Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 PowerPoint viewer literally does what it say on the tin! It wont let you edit or save!
ZeroHour Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 But not all industry. Some places use Macs and iWorks for instance. Apple are worse, nothing other then a mac opens those damn files. They are FAR worse then MS now for lockin's The joke here is that the closed sourse M$ formats ARE the standards that everyone supports! Ironically yeh, because its what everyone used it meant everything had to support it.
tmcd35 Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Apple are worse, nothing other then a mac opens those damn files. They are FAR worse then MS now for lockin's Possibly, but even iWork can open and save Word/Excel/Powerpoint files. Less face it MS-Works, iWork, OpenOffice, Google Apps, and more besides, can all open MS formated documents. So why worry about open standards, we have a standard. It's one of the reasons we can consider switching to OpenOffice without causing compatibility problems. OpenOffice also as the advantage of being truely multi-platform. Mac/Linux/Windows it's all the same version of the same software.
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Less face it MS-Works, iWork, OpenOffice, Google Apps, and more besides, can all open MS formated documents. So why worry about open standards, we have a standard. which standard .doc 97,xp 2000/2007 ? none of them seem to have any discernible degree of compatibility in different versions of office. besides, The old .doc is now legacy. MS have moved on, they have implemented their own version of .odf in their docx implementation soon they will support .odf out of the box. At some point they will drop .doc altogether. The industry standard for the education industry is odf. Even MS are using it now. (see the article I linked to in the 2nd post)
HodgeHi Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Don't forget that if you require a good level of support for VB and such then this is lacking in Open office as much as any other free open source alternative unless this has changed...
ZeroHour Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Possibly, but even iWork can open and save Word/Excel/Powerpoint files. Yeh I just love the fact that Apple are worse now for locked in office formats but like you say at least everyone has a common format and its MS office LOL It's one of the reasons we can consider switching to OpenOffice without causing compatibility problems. OpenOffice also as the advantage of being truely multi-platform. Mac/Linux/Windows it's all the same version of the same software. One of the best things tbh about it. Makes training very nice but likewise if your taught the principles it should be no problem. I am not sure what the new Mac office looks like though but no doubt its different.
dhicks Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I've played with Open Office a bit and it seems fine, but using it across the whole school is another matter. Why bother, anyway? Just switch to a web-based word processor and webmail. Now you only need laptops with web browsers, nothing else. -- David Hicks
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Don't forget that if you require a good level of support for VB and such then this is lacking in Open office as much as any other free open source alternative unless this has changed... MS removed VB support from MSOffice on the mac, so OpenOffice now supports VB better than MSOffice (on a mac). For cross platform compatibility, OpenOffice is the way forwards.
Butuz Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Why bother, anyway? Just switch to a web-based word processor and webmail. Now you only need laptops with web browsers, nothing else. -- David Hicks Any suggestions on good web based office suites??? Butuz
tmcd35 Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 I think Email Hosting, CRM, Project Management, Office Suite, Document Management and more is probably the best but then there is always Google Apps. When is M$ releasing Office Live?
jamesb Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Any suggestions on good web based office suites??? Butuz Anything that'll work when a class of 30 students try to save their documents with huge images included simultaneously at the end of the class? Might need to stress-test your internet line a little before opting for this route.
CyberNerd Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 (edited) Anything that'll work when a class of 30 students try to save their documents with huge images included simultaneously at the end of the class? yes, we use a combination of moodle and drupaled. For courses that require word processing we still use a word processor, but for the majority of coursework students can use forums, webpages, using the online learning community that we have created. An online community/ webspace for submitting work is much more flexible than using an application such as MSOffice or OpenOffice, it deals with images, movies, chat and all the things that you cannot do in a word processor alone. edit: did I mention that submitting work to a social network is much better for collaboration than traditional word processing methods Edited January 23, 2009 by CyberNerd
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