UK Dept. of Education and US Dept of Trans. recommend against Vista/Office 2007 - suggest Open-source & Mac alternatives
Michael Hughes
I thought the following "Information Week" articles were interesting
to the Open Source community.
-Mike
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http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205602879
"January 11, 2008 02:03 PM
The agency that governs educational technology in the United Kingdom
has advised schools in the country to keep Microsoft's Windows Vista
operating system and its Office 2007 software out of the classroom and
administrative offices...
A British educational report suggests the upgrade would increase costs
and create software compatibility problems while providing little
benefit.
...advised to take a long looked at alternatives based on Linux and
other open source products, such as the OpenOffice.org desktop
package..."
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http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197700789
"March 2, 2007 12:00 PM
Citing concerns over cost and compatibility, the top technology
official at the federal Department of Transportation has placed a
moratorium on all in-house computer upgrades toMicrosoft (NSDQ:
MSFT)'s new Windows Vista operating system, as well as Internet
Explorer 7 and Office 2007, according to a memo obtained Friday by
InformationWeek.
In a memo to his staff, the DOT's CIO Daniel Mintz says he has placed
"an indefinite moratorium" on the upgrades as "there appears to be no
compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new
Microsoft software products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific
reasons not to upgrade."
...
Among the options the Transportation Department is weighing as a
possible alternative or complement to Windows Vista are Novell's Suse
Linux and, for a limited group of users, Apple's Macintosh hardware
and software, he says."