MS Office Suite for schools

[DanO'N]

I am the Technology Coordinator / Network Manager for a public high
school in Connecticut. We are looking to upgrade out Microsoft Office
Suite next year but the cost for doing so is staggering. Mr. and Mrs.
Gates give SO much to education, yet Microsoft continues to squeeze
money from educational institutions for the sake of profit. Why is that
so?

OpenOffice is a free office suite that performs as well as Microsoft
Office; many folks, like me, are having to consider whether or not it is
worth investing in Microsoft or better to try OpenOffice Suite. If
Microsoft, or the Gates Foundation, were to offer to cover the costs of
MS Office Suite for schools then they would better secure that program
for the future.

In a business sense--if I offer to train students on OpenOffice and let
them know they can download and install this software for free, why
would they continue to use MS Office at home or in their future
studies/workplace? Please pass this message along to those that can
make a difference.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.




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[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Just wait until you are attacked with a virus
and find there is no support at all for Open Office.
You'll regret the day you migrated to it and likely
lose your job for being a poor consultant.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am the Technology Coordinator / Network Manager for a public high
| school in Connecticut. We are looking to upgrade out Microsoft Office
| Suite next year but the cost for doing so is staggering. Mr. and Mrs.
| Gates give SO much to education, yet Microsoft continues to squeeze
| money from educational institutions for the sake of profit. Why is that
| so?
|
| OpenOffice is a free office suite that performs as well as Microsoft
| Office; many folks, like me, are having to consider whether or not it is
| worth investing in Microsoft or better to try OpenOffice Suite. If
| Microsoft, or the Gates Foundation, were to offer to cover the costs of
| MS Office Suite for schools then they would better secure that program
| for the future.
|
| In a business sense--if I offer to train students on OpenOffice and let
| them know they can download and install this software for free, why
| would they continue to use MS Office at home or in their future
| studies/workplace? Please pass this message along to those that can
| make a difference.
|
| Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[ANONYMOUS]

You need to post this in OpenOffice NG (I don't know if any exists) as
you will find many converts there.

hth

 

[DanO''''N]

I think you are missing the point. I would like to have Microsoft consider
long term benefits of offering this suite to educational systems for
considerably less than they presently do; By doing so, they will help
maintain their strong customer base. Taxpayers and schoolboards prefer free,
or less expensive, over costly purchases. Right now I am in the process of
looking into upgrading my licensing/version of MS Office or looking into
alternatives. As far as your concern of being affected by viruses--thank you
for that suggestion.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Dan,

Microsoft offers discounted Education licenses for MS Office for schools
http://microsoft.com/education and classroom support materials and other benefits as well as, through the retail channel,
discounted individual copies of MS Office for Students and Teachers.

You can also contact a Microsoft Education or Microsoft Licensing representative to see what other choices might be available.

========
I think you are missing the point. I would like to have Microsoft consider
long term benefits of offering this suite to educational systems for
considerably less than they presently do; By doing so, they will help
maintain their strong customer base. Taxpayers and schoolboards prefer free,
or less expensive, over costly purchases. Right now I am in the process of
looking into upgrading my licensing/version of MS Office or looking into
alternatives. As far as your concern of being affected by viruses--thank you
for that suggestion. >>
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

For Everyday MS Office tips to "use right away" -
http://microsoft.com/events/series/administrativetipsandtricks.mspx

 

[DanO''''N]

Thanks, Bob. I'll have to do a little more digging. Maybe I can get better
pricing than what I was given.

Take care.