[dundee] Open Office - Baby Steps

[Arron Finnon]

This issue of Open Office has been flying around the Linux Society for
some time.  My views on this is it is not just a case of lobbying
academics, but raising the awareness of the whole issue.  I tend to
agree that for a large number of people if open office was installed
they would still use M$ office, however it is a case of choice.  I do
believe that a number of students would use open office, and to me its
the gateway to a world of open source use.

I think if i where to put my head on the chopping block, and formulate
a stratergy my first point of call would be raising awareness of open
office, probably best suited to workshops, showing the simple parts
like how to save a document in .doc, supporting open document formats
= good ethics, good business

The financal argument is really a mute point for the institute itself,
i'm pretty sure that the uni will get cut priced versions from M$ that
make it as good as free (as in beer) for them.  The real opportunity
we're missing is that the work force at large is going to have to be
retrained as it is, with thanks from our allies at M$ office who
created that fantastic propaganda piece of software they call office
2007.  The reality in any large organization is not just the cost of
software but the training that they need to give to their staff.
However as i stated earlier this cost will have to be paid either way
now, you change the user interface you change the users interaction

We are starting to see more business taking on our open office, and
that's where i think the most convincing argument will come from, if
business tell Abertay they need graduates that can use both M$ and
Open Office, then the uni will have no choice but to start supporting
it.  So i think it is also a case of lobbying employers as well as
academics, as well as students.  However lets not get this out of
context once we have one piece of FOSS in wide spread use, i think
we'll find it easier to get other open software supported.  I use the
term gateway drug when ever i speak about the subject, its the foot in
the door

I'm left with the nightmare that every time i go to the helpdesk with
a problem at Abertay, i spend more time being told that THEY DO NOT
SUPPORT LINUX then they spend listening to the problem.  I have one
issue each year, once with firefox which the uni does support, and one
with the web page authentication that the uni wifi network now uses.
I find the eventually have to be very forthright in the way i speak to
them, and basically say i'm not asking you to support Linux, i'm
asking you to support Firefox.  I'm not in the belief that this is
done on purpose but rather a fear of the unknown.

Back to my first point, if workshops are done, and marketed then it
gives us these benefits

a) to deliver our message
b) to canvass further support from others
c) to actually gauge the level of support from users
d) to find further allies inside various Abertay departments such as IS
e) launch a series of petitions (both online and physical) and
campaigns, and wrangle further outside pressure
f) deliver proof that Open Office is not just wanted but needed

Downside,

a) no one turns up
b) no one cares
c) we've wasted our time, and no one really gives a shit but us
d) we end up looking like nerds with nothing better to do, and come
off a little elitist

So there is my 2 pence worth, and its only my own personal views

Arron