Re: [libreoffice-marketing] LibO in Education (JK-High School and NOT post grad. university/college)

Le 2010-10-17 08:40, Marc Paré a écrit :
> I am interested in the marketing of LibO as an effective tool in
> education. In particular JK (kindergarten) to the end of High School (or
> comparable to this internationally as well).
>
> Is LibO, in your opinion, a good and effective tool for educational
> purposes? If we were to "project" target the educational establishment
> (School Boards, Educational governing bodies), would LibO have any
> attractive selling points or is there any missing functionality in the
> suite that should be considered to make it a better option for its
> adoption by these organisations?
>
> We know that the obvious price advantage is one selling point.
>
> Support is perhaps one the largest consideration for these
> organisations. They normally want both support at the IT level and
> support at the student level.


I am neither student nor teacher, but I have to offer support to my 
daughter and her friends. I find that OpenOffice (and most likely 
LibreOffice has a few problems to solve before it penetrates the market. 
What are the main problems that need to be addressed?

– College, universities and large high schools have some IT personnel, 
but smaller high schools and elementary schools don't have any. They 
will get support from the school board for computers used in 
administration... and they will get wiring for computers used in the 
classroom. So it needs to be plug and play.

– Computers used by students typically have the software they were 
bought with. Until the personnel who prepares the documentation for 
tenders write that they ask for a computer with Windows and a free 
Office suite, computers will continue to be stocked with Microsoft 
Office. So these administrators are the first people we need to address.

– Installation has to be simpler. One just have to look at the tutorial 
on "how to install -- or upgrade -- OpenOffice on a Windows platform" to 
be totally discouraged about the process. And the French version is even 
worst than the English one (as in more steps to go through). 
Fortunately, I did not read the tutorials before, installed the usual 
way (double click), and things went well.

– In the same line, installation needs to be closer to the so-called 
"silent install" that can be done with some know how. The way it should 
work: Double-click and it automatically creates its temporary folder and 
installs itself; registration should disappear. Why not replace that 
with a link to the help forums in the "?" menu?

- Whatever may be said – in theory – about the beauty of open formats, 
Microsoft Office 2003 formats have become the de facto standard. 
Students need to be able to prepare a homework, send a resume or show a 
presentation saved in one of these formats without any loss of data or 
presentation.

- Pricewise, OpenOffice and LibreOffice are cheaper (obviously), but not 
that cheap when we consider that Microsoft makes its Home and Student 
version fairly affordable.

- Finally, the Windows platform has often been an orphan of OpenOffice, 
and now LibreOffice. For instance, I haven't installed the new 
LibreOffice because it removes my working installation of OpenOffice 3.2 
and because there is no French language pack. I don't care that much for 
menus in French, but my daughters do, and I really want a French 
dictionnary. I hope the upcoming Beta 3 will solve these shortcomings.

--

Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)


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