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Hey fellow countryman! What good would it do for kids in our country to learn Open Office, an office suit nobody uses in a workplace?
by poloniculmov 14y ago
Hey fellow countryman! What good would it do for kids in our country to learn Open Office, an office suit nobody uses in a workplace?
- mgkimsal 14y ago30 years ago, why would anyone have bothered to use MS Word when nobody used it in the workplace? Everyone used WordPerfect or WordStar. If you had a generation of kids who have experience with openoffice, it'll be much more likely that openoffice would be something that would be adopted over time - newly formed companies using it, gradual shift away from MS Office, etc. MS knows their history, and will continue to seed generations of users with low-cost/free stuff to keep their dominance going. If they quit doling out free copies, something like openoffice would gain a larger foothold in schools and eventually businesses in < 10 years. Would MS Office be entirely replaced? Of course not, but it would not be the default/automatic choice for everyone without question.
- poloniculmov 14y agoI don't think that's public education's role.
- mgkimsal 14y agoWhat isn't? Indoctrinating students in MS Office? Or OpenOffice? Or Apple products?
- poloniculmov 14y agoExactly. It should just teach the industry standard, which in this case is MS Office. It's not the education systems' role to push for open source solutions.