An outline of information about Open Office I prepared to present to school teachers and administrators.

Facts About Open Office

• Contains word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool (also drawing, math editor, and database)

• Looks a lot like Microsoft Office 2003 (same features, but some options are in different menus)

• Is free (can be installed on ∞ computers)

• Is open source (like Firefox, Moodle, and Android phones) extensions and modifications are allowed (democratic community guides the path of the software instead of dictatorial corporation).

• Is lightweight and runs on any operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux & new/old hardware)

• Can open files created by Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx)

  • Some issues with converting files with complex layout (lots of images embedded in a word document)

• Can save files in Microsoft Office 2003 format (also has its own file format)

• Can save files as .pdf (don’t need to have cute pdf installed)

• Is popular (10⁸ downloads of Open Office 3 in one year)

Who uses it?

• Some examples from a company that installs open software http://bit.ly/9q9WLV

• http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Major_OpenOffice.org_Deployments

• All high schools in Indiana http://www.doe.in.gov/olt/InACCESS/about_inaccess.html

Why Are We Considering Open Office?

• We will need to upgrade software eventually

  • We are currently using Microsoft Office 2003

  • This is software that was released 7 years ago and will eventually be phased out

• Microsoft Office 2007 is available (MS Office 2010 is in beta testing

  • The interface is quite different from MS Office 2003 and will require extensive training

• Since training is going to be required, why not invest money we would use on buying software into training people?

  • To buy MS Office every 5-7 years is enough money to pay every teacher for 3 hours of training every year!

• You can keep using MS Office 2003 during the transition (since we already purchased it)

• If we choose MS Office 2007 we will have new computers with 2007 and old computers with 2003. (mixed environment)

• If we choose Open Office we can install open office on all computers right away (free to install, consistent environment).

• Makes a $400 netbook a $350 netbook (12% savings)

• Can be installed for free at home (on Windows, Mac, and Linux-a $150 savings per student

• Google Docs is free and complements any office suite we choose.

• Ideology – Public education and open source have similar goals

Arguments for Microsoft Office 2007

• The presentation software has more templates

• Microsoft Office has a large market share so we should expose students to the dominant brand

• Some features on MS Office 2007 work better

• Looks slicker

• Complex MS 2003 documents (lots of tables) might open more consistently

One school going open source not to save money but for the ideology (they also save money)

http://theopensourceschool.blogspot.com/2010/01/free-as-in-freedom-not-as-in-free-beer.html