Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Marketing campaign/infographic idea: Freeing schools from proprietary software

I think this underscores the need to market ourselves effectively to local-level governments. But 
perhaps think a little smaller than the school systems. Education is not the low-hanging fruit on 
that branch. I'll explain.



A part of the problem I see here is that public school curricula need several layers of approval 
and that even a small school department is a very complex hive. The ecosystem around large 
proprietary user bases and huge educational publishers is one chokepoint. It's not just MSOffice 
that crowds this space. Google, for instance, has large resources devoted to getting US schools to 
purchase ChromeBooks for their students and faculty, to use the Google Classroom suite of 
educational management apps, and to teach using Workplace system that is our competitor. Cf. 
https://edu.google.com/  You'll see that there are sales teams, trainers, developers, etc. devoted 
just to the schools market. 




If we can get much smaller entities of municipal government to forego expensive proprietary 
software licenses--the public works office, the library system, the town clerk--as a discretionary 
choice so that their funding can go to other programs, then there are inroads to the bigger budgets 
within government.


Best,


Sully








---- On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 11:42:32 -0400  <warrencamilleri@gmail.com> wrote ---



Good evening all

To clarify that the uk and most of the eu educational institutions follow the ECDL curriculum which 
is MS based sadly, LO is featured with linux under the ICDL and woth todays generations computer 
users like us are seen as power users as many are more adjusted to using thier phones and tablets 
for everything these days through an app, some dont know what a folder/directory means

Do keep it in mind that most educational curriculum is centered around moulding the young for the 
workforce and not for life and the many options it tosses at them

I may be out of line to say that this is a
Paradox for OSS vs proprietary in the educational feild as it is mosty following what the market’s 
& government strengths are..

Regards
Warren

- ossmalta.eu / mt.libreoffice.org
Sent from my iPhone

> On 26 Mar 2024, at 14:14, mailto:nigelverity@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> Hi Mike
>
> This is indicative of a widescale problem. At my daughter's school the "Information Technology" 
> classes were not generic e.g how to use a spreadsheet, database or word processing/presentation 
> application. It was specifically how to use Microsoft Office - nothing else.
>
> At one parents' meeting I took the IT head of department to task over this, asking why no 
> reference was ever made to free/open source software. He seemed to know roughly what "open 
> source" means but had not the slightest clue about the concept of free software and no interest 
> in open standards or open formats.
>
> All the while this is indicative of the level to which our children are being taught the only 
> scope for the adoption of FLOSS applications by the general public is going to be limited to 
> nerds and other "self starters". This suggests to me that the emphasis - in the UK at least - 
> needs to be on business, where staff use whatever applications are mandated by their 
> organisation. In my early days of using computers I tended to use at home whatever applications 
> I'd grown used to using 40 hours a week at work. Perhaps that same principle might eventually 
> apply and the wider use of applications like LO could
> ripple out from the workplace.
>
> All the best
>
> Nige
>
> LibreOffice - Free and open source office suite: LibreOffice Website<https://www.libreoffice.org/>
> Respects your privacy, and gives you back control over your data​
> ________________________________
> From: Mike Saunders <mailto:mike.saunders@documentfoundation.org>
> Sent: 26 March 2024 10:07
> To: Marketing list <mailto:marketing@global.libreoffice.org>
> Subject: [libreoffice-marketing] Marketing campaign/infographic idea: Freeing schools from 
> proprietary software
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> On Twitter (I mean, "X") someone posted about their school requiring
> students to use Microsoft Office. Even worse, the school has a quiz for
> new students where they are asked what software they can use, and
> LibreOffice is an option, but the "correct" answer is Microsoft Office.
> Here's the thread:
>
> https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FWarlockN1ck%2Fstatus%2F1771748533038911601&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638470445774235987%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Hk513vhDtuym8vzJecPi1uhXZbPdkPV%2FNSKnWJ10O3k%3D&reserved=0<https://twitter.com/WarlockN1ck/status/1771748533038911601>
>
> And for those who don't want to use "X", a screenshot:
>
> https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnvxTvAm.png&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638470445774244181%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BCvwMKgE6IoHOQn6KLxZuMl2Jce1v1XJt7pEOdeZDX4%3D&reserved=0<https://i.imgur.com/nvxTvAm.png>
>
> So what can we do about this? My idea is a short infographic that we can
> post in response to such things, pointing out the benefits of FOSS
> (especially with regards to data privacy) and how it's important for
> students to have choice in the tools they use, and the value of learning
> other tools.
>
> Ideas and mockups very welcome :-)
>
> --
> Mike Saunders, Marketing and Community Coordinator
> Deputy Member of the Board of Directors
> The Document Foundation
>
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