Comments on: THE two reasons why we do not use Open Source in Education http://www.leftlaneends.net/2007/02/08/77/ when the road narrows ... we begin to think Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:14:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: jfroese http://www.leftlaneends.net/2007/02/08/77/#comment-2448 jfroese Fri, 09 Feb 2007 03:13:22 +0000 http://www.leftlaneends.net/2007/02/08/77/#comment-2448 Dood - what about Brett Dennen? That's the whole reason for the post, anyway... ;) Dood - what about Brett Dennen? That’s the whole reason for the post, anyway… ;)

]]> By: todd http://www.leftlaneends.net/2007/02/08/77/#comment-2444 todd Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:09:54 +0000 http://www.leftlaneends.net/2007/02/08/77/#comment-2444 The reason we don't use free software in education is because there's no [insert name of commercial educational software package here] available. Yeah, it's great you can run free software equivalents of productivity software (old hat now with all the web-based apps), but what about the educational software that teachers want to use? I'll admit I'm a bit removed from the K-12 environment, but I imagine there are many titles out there that teachers wouldn't be willing to give up. As someone who vowed to never use Microsoft software at home, I find myself dual-booting into Windows so my daughters can play their online games that require shockwave and activeX. It's important to remember, too, that there is free software that runs on Windows. In the 4-5 years I've been pushing these things, the people I work with are more likely to accept the notion that free != inferior. My suspicion, though, is that we'll see the continued movement to online applications and storage, so we'll have even more choice. Regarding purchasing/support decisions, it's not much of a surprise that folks would choose commercial solutions with support systems. I know there's community (and increasing commercial) support for free software projects, but our IT staff doesn't want to be googling and trolling the forums; they want a 1-800 number. Note that I'm a big advocate of free software--so much so I avoid using "open source" whenever possible--so I don't mean to rain on your idea. You pick the tool that fits your needs; sometimes it might be free software, other times not. The reason we don’t use free software in education is because there’s no [insert name of commercial educational software package here] available. Yeah, it’s great you can run free software equivalents of productivity software (old hat now with all the web-based apps), but what about the educational software that teachers want to use? I’ll admit I’m a bit removed from the K-12 environment, but I imagine there are many titles out there that teachers wouldn’t be willing to give up. As someone who vowed to never use Microsoft software at home, I find myself dual-booting into Windows so my daughters can play their online games that require shockwave and activeX.

It’s important to remember, too, that there is free software that runs on Windows. In the 4-5 years I’ve been pushing these things, the people I work with are more likely to accept the notion that free != inferior. My suspicion, though, is that we’ll see the continued movement to online applications and storage, so we’ll have even more choice.

Regarding purchasing/support decisions, it’s not much of a surprise that folks would choose commercial solutions with support systems. I know there’s community (and increasing commercial) support for free software projects, but our IT staff doesn’t want to be googling and trolling the forums; they want a 1-800 number.

Note that I’m a big advocate of free software–so much so I avoid using “open source” whenever possible–so I don’t mean to rain on your idea. You pick the tool that fits your needs; sometimes it might be free software, other times not.

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