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

[Andy White]

Cool, good response and awesome to see you advocating FOSS in the  
education sector. Thanks. :)

Andy White
e: andy at lgsolutions.com.au
m: +61 411246100




On 08/02/2009, at 6:23 PM, Harry WWC wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
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