[Linux-aus] Young Aussies say pirated software is OK

[Harry WWC]

G'day Andy et.al.,

(whoever 'al' may be ;')

> Are businesses using those tools on a statistically significant basis?  

pretty much every organisation that I know of, from small Real Estate
Agents and Doctor's Surgeries through to multi-nationals - a large
majority us MS-Office. Indeed, I recall one discussion about OOo was
that most businesses are not worried too much about "MS-Windows
Compatibility", but "MS-Office Compatibility".

> Which businesses were sampled?

Certainly our local Chamber of Commerce often ask us for short MS-Office
courses.

> I'm half convinced that there's some sort of selection bias in these  
> sorts of discussions. I don't doubt that proprietary tools are more  
> prevalent in a great many sectors, but I've anecdotally worked at a  
> number of places who didn't care what tools you used for a given job  
> as long as the file formats are interchangeable.

Ay, there's the rub. That is, at the end of the day, the _real_
requirement. *But*, the "easiest" way (hah!) of achieving that is to
"but MicroSoft". I remember a loooong time ago that it was said "no one
ever got fired for buying IBM". In recent times it has been MicroSoft.

> 
> That said, I know CIT (ACT's TAFE equivalent) do a fair bit of Linux  
> training, so it's not like F/OSS is totally unrepresented in the  
> education sector (at least locally).
> 

Sure. And I have taught RHCT at TAFE (RH033 and RH133). So yes, there is
FOSS being taught. But, as was mentioned, that is aimed at the 'server'
level. At the "office" level, it is, unfortunately, a "MicroSoft World".

As I said, I introduce FOSS in one of my subjects. We start with what
FOSS is, and then we look at the *excellent* BBC World doco "Code
Breakers", then we install the latest (or second latest) Ubuntu. Then we
install FOSS (esp. OOo & Firefox) on Windows.

This is all "above and beyond" the requirements of the National Training
Package [1]. But I do it because:

- students want it
- they need to know about it
- I am an advocate for it

But not everyone is trying to break the shackles - indeed, many see then
not as 'shackles', but as 'job continuity'.

The main problem *most* TAFE students have is that they can't play their
games on Linux - so most would need to dual-boot. Problem is, if you are
in one OS for your games, it's just as easy to stick with that same one
for your browsing and word processing and the list goes on.

reg's,

.h

[1] - 'above and beyond' - I could be required to drop this stuff if
someone complained, as it is not in the National Training Package, and
therefore doesn't _need_ to be taught, and could (as far as TAFE is
concerned) be 'dropped' with "no impact to the customer".

-- 

harry [at] woodward-clarke [dot] com
imago Dei in quolibet hominé inveniartur