[Wolves] OU -- was: Re:For those inquiring on wednesday

[Kevanf1]

On 16/10/2007, Chris Fox <chris at robotninja.net> wrote:

>
> The largest issue in my view is more political than technical - the
> requirement for most electronic assignment submissions to be in MS Word
> 97 format rather than something open like ODF. Again I don't think that
> this is a case of the OU selling their soul to Microsoft, but a more
> human problem. The OU's tutors (or "Assistant Lecturers" to use their
> proper title" are possibly the university's most valuable asset, and
> many of them tutor courses in their spare time for the joy of teaching
> rather than for the paltry sum they get paid. If they're understandably
> reluctant to move software from MS Office to OO.o, the OU isn't going to
> piss them off by forcing the issue.
>

It's probably down to simply numbers.  There are far more people using
a Microsoft OS than any other.  I would think that the OU are
gradually learning that there is life after Windows.  Perhaps praise
for at least starting to use some open source software might be the
order of the day?  A little praise and encouragement goes a long way.
Scolding and negativity may simply have the effect of making those
responsible for these decisions of digging their heels in.
-- 
==============================================

Kevan Farmer
Linux user #373362
Staffordshire