Re: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] RE: [why schools don't adopt OSS]]]

[Doug Loss <drloss@home.com>]

Doug Loss wrote:
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: Jim Thomas <jthomas@bittware.com>
> To: seul-edu@seul.org
> Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] RE: [why schools don't adopt OSS]]
> 
> John Hansknecht wrote:
> >
> > 2) A good document/chart helping people identify software alternatives would
> > be of great assistance.  This would be a list that identified software
> > alternatives to the mainstream Windows applications and that would include
> > training resources (books, web sites, etc) as well as a bulleted list of
> > strengths and weaknesses.  (This is critical, as applications are replaced I
> > know people are going to moan.  Responding will be easier if I have a ready
> > list of new strengths to hilight as well as a prepared response for the
> > weaknesses that people identify.)
> 
> This is a great idea.  I can see where that would be helpful.  The only
> problem I see is that it would be difficult (for me at least) to
> generate the list in an unbiased way.  I think a fair assessment is
> crucial here too.  If it comes off as "I hate Microsoft and will say
> anything to cause them to lose market share" we will not win anyone
> over.
> 
We tried to generate something like this a couple of years ago by asking
for a list of all the software people were currently using at their
schools, so we could look for Linux equivalents for it all.  We only got
~three responses, so we didn't fell we had enough to work with and never
followed through.  But if people will make lists of the software they're
currently using (for Windows, Mac, Linux, whatever) and send them along,
I'll try to compile them into a listing of needed applications types for
Linux.  If the programs aren't obvious as to what they do (MS Word, for
example), include a short description of what they are.

> Another unported app common to K12 is the Encyclopedia (World Book,
> Britanica, Groliers, Encarta, etc).  We *really* need a Linux app that
> can provide an interface to these CD's.
> 
Agreed.  The closest thing I know of is QGEO, which reads National
Geographic CDs under Linux.  I don't suppose these encyclopedias all use
the same interface, do they?  If they use HTML-based interfaces, the
porting should be fairly easy.  Encarta might be difficult, but I think
that World Book, Grolier, and Britannica might be persuaded to develop
Linux readers for their stuff, or at least to provide the information
needed for others to do so.

> We can help you there.  There are several case studies available here:
> http://moria.seul.org/~karl/seul_submissions_log.html
> There's another version of this page somewhere with nicer formatting,
> but I can't find it.  We really need a link to this from the seul/edu
> homepage (or at least make it easier to find if it IS there).
> 
It's at <http://richtech.ca/seul/>.  As for the links, we're working on
it.

Doug Loss
drloss@home.com