³Microsoft offers the OS and Office at extremely competitive prices to schools. I have heard it quoted as being around £5 per license for Office.²
It is cheaper but not that cheap... For example: MS Office single license = £43 + £25 Software assurance Windows Server Standard (Single License) = £85 + £42 software assurance ³Parents have an expectation that MS Office will be taught in the classroom as it is what they know and use in their work place.² Most parents I know are not that worried about what is used but they are concerned about compatibility with their home machine etc. ³The majority of schools have limited IT resources and might have limited experience of using and securing Linux and other open source software. They could be substantial costs in retraining staff.² Yes they would have limited experience but nothing a bit of training wouldn¹t cover IMO. ³I totally agree that opensource has a great to offer schools with applications like Moodle, Audacity and many others, but currently I don't think many schools are ready for Linux/Ubuntu and OpenOffice.² I don¹t think most users would care if you ran Ubuntu/OpenOffice. Beyond that we come back to my argument regarding the user interface where, unfortunately, most of the open source software loses out big time! Alun Rowe Pentangle Internet Limited 2 Buttermarket Thame Oxfordshire OX9 3EW Tel: +44 8700 339905 Fax: +44 8700 339906 Please direct all support requests to mailto:it-supp...@pentangle.co.uk Pentangle Internet Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 3960918. Registered office: 1 Lauras Close, Great Staughton, Cambridgeshire PE19 5DP This message (and any associated files) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, subject to copyright or constitutes a trade secret. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, copying or distribution of this message, or files associated with this message, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Messages sent to and from us may be monitored. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. Therefore, we do not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions that are present in this message, or any attachment, that have arisen as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required, please request a hard-copy version. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.
