What is Digg?215 Comments
- AionGlobalcom, on 01/12/2008, -20/+68People who would try office 2007 would never want to use an older version.
I am going to say anything about Vista since I don't use it. - D3koy, on 01/12/2008, -4/+43Vista? My high school still runs Windows CE on "thin clients" rather than computers....I'm pretty sure vista would make those things explode...
- xb00t, on 01/12/2008, -11/+43I can agree for the Vista bit, but Office 2007 is so much easier to work with.
- inactive, on 01/12/2008, -3/+32My wife is a translator so she works almost only with office 2007. At first she didn't like it. Then I made her read the manual. Now she loves it.
People don't like what they are not used to. The only reason she didn't like the new office at first is becaused functionnalities weren't where they used to be. But with office 2007, you can customize everything. I really like it too. - inactive, on 01/12/2008, -19/+47There will be no dawn .....for vista, mwahahahha
- DocHoliday22, on 01/12/2008, -7/+29Schools try and get away with what little they have. This isn't because they're following industry trends - they're just tight gits. We had to use Windows 95 machines while the rest of the planet was on XP.
- baldgye, on 01/12/2008, -6/+26I can see where they are coming from, as Vista isn't that much better than XP, and the costs of upgrading aren't really worth it...but at the same time, I'm not sure i see the benefit of teaching kids solely in an old OS, as i imagine how ever different Windows 7 will be, I grantee that it will be similar to Vista in the way people use it.
But I don't get the anti Office 07, becasue its so much better than 03, yeah it costs, but aren't computer programs all about making our life easier? Something Office03 never did. - renegadeafk, on 01/12/2008, -3/+21People are too resistant to getting used to the new UI. The ribbon UI is MUCH better if you actually try and learn it, much easier than office 2003.
- chris9902, on 01/12/2008, -2/+20people hate change. what's new?
- BoomShiqua816, on 01/12/2008, -2/+19I'm thinking Aion meant to say "People who try Office 2007 before they try any older version would never want to switch to an older version." I could actually see that being true. If he meant it in the way it's posted then I would have to say you're spot on.
- stann65, on 01/12/2008, -6/+23I agree with the above Linux comment. Switching to Linux will save schools around the UK millions per year. But the problem with this is getting I.T technicians who are trained in Linux, a lot of none Microsoft products for education are all designed around Windows.
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -0/+16What do you mean 'still'? Many schools are implementing thin client based systems due to their relatively low TCO.
- Phocion55, on 01/12/2008, -6/+21As much as you'll like to ignore this fact, this is an official report by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Not a 15 year old blogger.
- Rubuntu, on 01/12/2008, -1/+15When a monopoly introduces a product into the market place without removing the old product in the market place (XP), it is the first sign of a failing company. Having your own products compete with each other is a disaster especially when the new product sucks.
- misterhat, on 01/12/2008, -0/+14Cool. I went outside yesterday. Twice
- inactive, on 01/12/2008, -8/+21i'd like to purchase some of the stuff you've been smoking, paypal ok? or do you prefer google checkout?
- BrPyne, on 01/12/2008, -28/+40Is anyone else tired of 15 year old nerds with no real world experience going on about how dropping Windows and instantly adopting Linux will provide unlimited benefits?
- pigfister, on 01/12/2008, -4/+15Thanks to the MPAA vista sucks!
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/02/schneier-why- ...
FTA: Schneier: Why Microsoft Sold Out Consumers in Vista;
Today, the PC industry needs Hollywood more than Hollywood needs the PC. Most consumers rely on traditional consumer electronics devices to view DVDs and TV content, but companies like Microsoft are betting on the converged digital home and desperately want a bigger piece of the media device market. Because of the DMCA, Microsoft has to get permission to build devices compatible with Hollywood's DRMed content. So when Hollywood demanded that Microsoft lard Vista with restrictions to access high-def DVD and digital cable content, the software giant was in a weak bargaining position.
The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. - inactive, on 01/12/2008, -7/+18anyone else tired of "Microsoft Certified" losers?
- ekravchenko, on 01/12/2008, -26/+37Good choice, maybe eventually they'll switch to linux
- kenplaysviola, on 01/12/2008, -1/+12I work in I.T. in the academic sector. Microsoft "forces" us to always use their new softwares, such as Vista and Office 2007. They do this by not giving us the option to buy previous academic license versions of Windows or Office, so we have no choice but to give new users and computers Vista and Office 2007. Many do not like the new GUI in Office 2007 as there are no options to change the GUI back to previous versions. Some have grown to adapt and like it, and others hate it. As for Vista, I actually have not heard any complaints from my users. I just change the theme to look like "Windows Classic" to make it look somewhat familiar.
- asspants, on 01/12/2008, -3/+14Is anyone else tired of 15 year old wanna be nerds ]
FTFY - localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -1/+11I don't think anyone at Becta is 15... And I know I'm not.
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -2/+11Linux isn't that hard to learn - technicians can be retrained for less than the price of a years Schools agreement in a medium sized school...
Also, a lot of the actual educational software is now web based or flash based - both of which work fine in a normal Linux environment. The speed at which things change in ICT in education is faster than in most businesses, and as such technicians in schools have to learn things very quickly anyway... - mrjeffery, on 01/12/2008, -1/+10I'm a desktop support monkey for my local education authority. I've had a hard enough time switching over from xp to vista on my office machine, god knows how many support calls we're going to get when our supplier (dell) stops giving us the XP option and provides machines for classroom use with vista-only preinstalls.
- init100, on 01/12/2008, -2/+11"yeah it costs, but aren't computer programs all about making our life easier? Something Office03 never did."
Would you rather have Office 2003 or a typewriter? I know which I would choose, and it isn't the typewriter. - asspants, on 01/12/2008, -16/+25I will have to completely disagree. I run a computer repair shop. People come in telling me how much they hate office 2007 and want an older version back.
This happens a lot. - zephyr42, on 01/12/2008, -0/+9Thin clients are a great solution for schools. Before I graduated they had just started slowly implementing them.
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -0/+9Lol, you truly are 'petarded'. There is a hell of a lot more to changing OS's than just installing. It is a massive task to be blunt.
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -1/+10WTF are you on? Schools are tight gits? Have you actually seen the budgets that schools have to deal with? We have a school with 90 staff members and 600 kids and we had £2.1m to spend last year. Of that, roughly £1.8m goes on the staffing. £300k for everything else? That isn't exactly a lot...
What exactly did you miss out on by having Win 95 (something I doubt quite a lot, as most schools use either Win 98, 2000 or XP) instead of XP? - mrjeffery, on 01/12/2008, -0/+9Yet you can't figure out the context of the comment you're trying to write a smart ass reply to?
- Tohdman, on 01/12/2008, -3/+11I think all schools should have Linux and OpenOffice.
- balazsbela, on 01/12/2008, -0/+8Office 2007 saves into .docx (OOXML) by default, which I and a lot of people think is bad.
So I'm kind of glad they said no to it, but it could have drawbacks.If they used it in schools, they could teach kids how to set it back to .doc . - Phocion55, on 01/12/2008, -1/+9I agree. But it's not about the application itself.
It's about Microsoft's unwillingness to implement THE offiical document standard ODF so it can push the unapproved MS proprietary Office XML. - mossblaser, on 01/12/2008, -3/+11Really? Maybe my my friend doesn't actually live in england... No, wait, he does, he lives in Manchester, they use linux at his place. Apparently the script kiddies got pissed off because restrictions actually work.
- crowbar77, on 01/12/2008, -5/+13Vista is understandable, but why office 2007? The GUI is just so much more straight forward.
- baalzebub, on 01/12/2008, -2/+9if anyone wants better security they would be better off with BSD or Linux, there is nothing secure about any version of ms-windows past, present or future...
- vibrokatana, on 01/12/2008, -3/+10A large portion of the web hosting market IS linux. Funny how ignoramuses just ignore the fact that linux does have a large market share yet people STILL go for windows because it is proven to have weaker security.
- greevar, on 01/12/2008, -2/+9You can run many of those educational packages with WINE. As long as they aren't running on the latest DX10 and whatnot.
- zephyr42, on 01/12/2008, -7/+14I actually really like Office 2007. Granted if your new with computers or "average" it would be a pain in the ass, but after a very small learning curve using it was just as easy as older versions. Vista... F that.
- Mossa, on 01/12/2008, -2/+9Yeah but some of only spend 50% of our time on here and occasionally miss good news just like this.
- Rubuntu, on 01/12/2008, -0/+7To be honest with you, it not my idea, I got it from a speach Eben Moglen made at IBM Research Center. And I doubt to many folks can argue with him...
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -0/+7Not quite. For example, being the network manager at a middle school myself, I know that we have no plans in the next 2 years to change from XP. There is just no reason to go to Vista. If we do update to a new version of Windows, it will be to Windows 7 when that comes out - but I'll be pushing for a different solution - OS X or Linux with Windows terminal servers for the few windows only apps that exist in our environment.
- technoredneck, on 01/12/2008, -0/+6I know I'm probably the odd man out here, but when I tried Word 2007, it frustrated me. To be fair, though, I must say it seems much easier to get the hang of compared to older versions. I just don't have the patience or desire to do so when what I have now works for me.
I've been using WordPerfect 7.0 for years and know that program and its quirks like the back of my hand, and switching to anything else isn't pleasant for me. I'm guilty as charged for being a stubborn old fogie when it comes to word processors.
However, for 'big' stuff, I prefer LyX and LaTeX over /any/ word processor, but that's my inner nerd shining through. - div2n, on 01/12/2008, -4/+10I'm the IT Manager in a SMB. We used to have about 10 people using Office 2007. None of the people seem to "like" it. A few have no general comments and the rest openly despise it. I moved those people over to Office 2003.
- localzuk, on 01/12/2008, -3/+9Well, the solution I am going to be pushing for is that over the next computer replacement cycle we move to a different platform. I'm currently thinking OS X or Ubuntu with windows terminal servers for running software like SIMS.net. This would drop the yearly licensing costs by about £4k a year for us, with only moderate retraining for staff (the basic concepts of the OS's are almost the same).
The Windows + Office solution is just not sustainable. Schools need to direct money into things which are actually helpful for schools. £4k is a part time TA. If we go with a linux solution, we can use lower spec machines, and as such the hardware replacement would be extended and reduced in cost. All this together would pay for a lot of equipment or staff in a school! - technoredneck, on 01/12/2008, -1/+7There'd be a bit of a hurdle and cost upfront, but switching to Linux and open-source software should at least pay for itself over time, unless UK schools have a deal with Microsoft that gives them /very/ cheap licenses.
Linux is not that bad on the desktop, if it's properly set up . The 'average' user would be able to tell a difference compared to Windows, sure, but I doubt there'd be much of a problem launching OpenOffice instead of Office, Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, etc. It's not like they're having to learn the command line, or the programs are entirely different.
The Windows-only school software should be the only thing holding them back. Even then, only keep Windows on the computers that need it. Who says the transition has to be a sudden, drastic one? When it comes time to upgrade that Windows-only software, choose or develop something else compatible with Linux. Hell, that software may even work in Wine or CrossOver (unless you're teaching the kids to use Photoshop or something of that nature--if that's the case, Macs might be a better option). - Phocion55, on 01/12/2008, -3/+9Please tell me you're not implying that "better security" == Vista.
- cliffzdude, on 01/12/2008, -0/+5Did anybody here read the article? Its not about what is "good" or "bad", its about cost vs. benefits (Vista) and interoperability (Office 2k7).
RTFA. - andrewpmk, on 01/12/2008, -7/+12Just put Linux on all those computers. I don't understand why most operators of computers in schools and libraries, which are generally only ever used for internet and word processing, still insist on putting Windows (usually XP) on them. This would save them a lot of money.
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