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

I concur with Norman and Sully,

The education section is too big and there are more powerful players stacked against us, but on the 
more local level we may have better chances

Do know that educational have:
        - K12 License (most are free or really cheap vs business) and grants so tough sell there.
        - Some even get  grants/sponsorship donations just cos they work with MS or google to the 
yearly funding - again tough sell there...

There are countries that have opted for hybrid or outright OSS (I belive Germany, Estonia and 
Poland lead in this) in the case of Malta, I can say that come local councils use a hybrid of 
propriety and open source software. There was a time when the  government tech entity MITA had made 
a white paper for OSS in governance, but having worked with them and seen the actual results of its 
implementation it's not as one would of dreamed to be but at least it’s a foot in the door as this 
leaves it be a hybrid model of most end points (end users) are MS based for Operating system and 
Office, the OSS side is more server/IT dept side...

it’s a challenge but some places like the Malta local councils association, I have had negotiations 
and demonstrations for OSS, and this has been implemented in public free "use" assets in library's, 
civic centers and such so that funding may be put into more Quality of life programs, when placing 
in an AD Domain there is a whole can of worms to deal with and the major part is OSWAP/cyber 
secuirty and Support.

Another options Is knowledge sharing base for MSP/Tech support providers, as means to please their 
tighter budgeted clients who are cost cutting and want to be free from licensing but still want the 
support (SLA Agreements) and marking it towards startups, SOHO, SME's, VO's as this will allows us 
to network more and grow prior to going for K12 users

also a lot of places are integrating into MS office due to Teams, SharePoint and Outlook being 
under one hat, the same applies for google with meet, Gdrive and workspace and their native support 
in their respected operating systems... which makes me also want to highlight what other projects 
play nice with integrations to achieve the same if not be a "stand out point" (maybe I am going 
down the rabbit hole, but each field needs to be seem for their current needs, where they can grow 
and the Quality of life it offers)
 
I have been at this since 2006 when I founded ossmalta and was a member of OpenOffice Mar-Con team 
prior to the oracle forcing the community to form LibreOffice, and when dealing with public offices 
and officials I have learnt that things will be slow if it's not beneficial for them 😉 in terms of 
funding, public optics and the right connections sadly...

Regards,
Warren Camilleri

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman Rides <norman@phonecoop.coop> 
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2024 5:31 PM
To: Sully Sullivan <sully@knowlegiate.com>; marketing <marketing@global.libreoffice.org>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Marketing campaign/infographic idea: Freeing schools from 
proprietary software

I was surprised to find in Ireland that the reliance on the ECDL meant that OS applications are 
regarded as a bit odd. Fortunately my employer flew the flag for LibreOffice, although some new 
employees did grumble at first. My employer was a co-operative and viewed OpenSource as being in 
line with co-operative values. Indeed the ICA Guidance on co-operative values and principles makes 
direct reference to OpenSource software. a few years ago there was a massive data breach in the 
Health Services Authority which appeared to have been caused by some units in the Health Service 
still using patched-up Windows 7 systems.

In the UK OS is a little bit more established in the voluntary and co-operative sector and I think 
that this would be a good marketing target. It is in fact the reason I joined this group. There 
used to be a group in Cambridge called (I think) Net Riders, which provided training and support to 
Third Sector OS users. I believe that Norfolk County Council is OpenSource but this may have 
changed. It got started by renovating obsolete hardware, stripping out the Windows OS, installing 
OS, and selling them cheaply to individuals and small organisations. 
This turned Microsoft's obsolescence strategy against it.

The Co-operative Movement and the wider Third Sector (Charities and Social Enterprises) are a 
fruitful field for increasing market penetration. A mapping of the sector to identify target 
organisations in each country would be a start.

Happy to help,

Norman Rides



On 26/03/2024 16:10, Sully Sullivan wrote:
> 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%2Ftw
> > itter.com%2FWarlockN1ck%2Fstatus%2F1771748533038911601&data=05%7C02%7
> > C%7Cc93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaa
> > aa%7C1%7C0%7C638470445774235987%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wL
> > jAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sd
> > ata=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%7Cc93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7
> > cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638470445774244181
> > %7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6
> > Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BCvwMKgE6IoHOQn6KLxZuMl2J
> > ce1v1XJt7pEOdeZDX4%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
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe e-mail to: 
> > mailto:marketing+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
> > Problems? 
> > https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fww
> > w.libreoffice.org%2Fget-help%2Fmailing-lists%2Fhow-to-unsubscribe%2F&
> > data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640af
> > b435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638470445774249554%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d
> > 8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7
> > C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Buu433dYJDk8%2BqHd1xvxwTQBYiNL8WGnHTtYuOr%2FpEU%3
> > D&reserved=0<https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-t
> > o-unsubscribe/> Posting guidelines + more: 
> > https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwi
> > ki.documentfoundation.org%2FNetiquette&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc93f52042af6
> > 4f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638
> > 470445774253984%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV
> > 2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vO6edGqYHn8u
> > TzKGGBIqO6uE%2F%2Bm%2B6SFs0H4E%2FJvXh9g%3D&reserved=0<https://wiki.do
> > cumentfoundation.org/Netiquette> List archive: 
> > https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fli
> > starchives.libreoffice.org%2Fglobal%2Fmarketing%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C
> > c93f52042af64f05947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7
> > C1%7C0%7C638470445774258010%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwM
> > DAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=
> > i7v0fWEh1AYKFYnDK1lceJep1jy2BYB%2BG1gzhBtFT2c%3D&reserved=0<https://l
> > istarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/>
> > Privacy Policy: 
> > https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fww
> > w.documentfoundation.org%2Fprivacy&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc93f52042af64f05
> > 947908dc4d7cd659%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C6384704
> > 45774262116%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luM
> > zIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BrtznXbCsSmr9vCq
> > XBWJGgklwXQ56Lxe%2BWz9lcNWmQA%3D&reserved=0<https://www.documentfound
> > ation.org/privacy>
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe e-mail to: 
> > mailto:marketing+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
> > Problems? 
> > https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe
> > / Posting guidelines + more: 
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> > List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/
> > Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy

--
To unsubscribe e-mail to: marketing+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/
Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy


-- 
To unsubscribe e-mail to: marketing+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/
Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy