We are still in need of:
* Suggestions for the student/teacher niche, what else do we need to inform them about?
I know you and others have probably thought a lot about this, and you want more concrete suggestions, but here's my 2c worth of what sort of things need dealing with in the school educational market:
- non-computer-geek/nerd students use a computer mostly for MSN type chatting, MP3'ing and browsing the web and don't really give a stuff about anything else. Obviously they want to be able to use a word processor of some sort but it doesn't really interest them. Pirated software is the norm - scare tactics generally don't work with students
- teachers have some say in schools, though not the final say
- the hip-pocket does appeal to teachers as they have budgets to work within usually
- teachers in general are not interested in the FOSS debate, they don't care. They simply want whatever will get their job done with the least inconvenience to them, which means they have no loyalty necessarily to any particular type of software as long as it is easy to use (familiarity does come into it here though) and does the job.
- some teachers do struggle with the idea of free (as in beer) software and think it is therefore of a lesser quality than paid for software
- for schools, the cost of Windows/Office is negligible even though it adds up. For starters Windows cost is included in the PC anyway. The cost of Office (around $80 per licence last I looked) is somewhat outweighed by less stress from teachers who are used to Office and hence bursars/business managers/principals are less hassled by staff. I've never met a bunch of people more unwilling to learn something different than teachers.
- there is a lot of scope of FOSS in libraries, but again there is the idea that free cannot be quality
- educational software being available for Linux is a problem, so perhaps a push for FOSS that runs on Windows/MAC as well. It needs to be targetted obviously - eg a D&T teacher would want to know what FOSS CAD and design applications there are. I've had some success with this sort of thing - eventually the only thing keeping them on Windows is Office. That is the hardest to convert. Yes, there is OpenOffice and so on, but as I said before teachers really HATE learning new stuff that is not directly in their sphere - they just want to get down to teaching, and learning a new office package is just a nuisance. Perhaps a flyer with some web sites that list available FOSS software or FOSS related sites even?
Anyway, just my 2c worth (ok maybe its a little more than 2c).
Fil
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