Re: [Sheflug] ShefLUG - May/June 2008 Meeting

["Bob Mottram" <fuzzgun@xxxxxxxxx>]

2008/5/24 Sean Whitton <sean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> We have to be a bit careful about our criticism here. In my experience
> of challenging teachers on this, the main reason that FLOSS isn't used
> is because of the lack of support for it that they can call and blame
> when things go wrong. IT technicians are not usually that incredible
> at their jobs and so they need to be able to blame Microsoft technical
> support when things blow up. They need that support contract. There is
> very little like this available in the free software world at the
> moment.

Fortunately there is a lot of support for FLOSS.  If you're using one
of the well known Linux distros and have a problem you can often
google for a solution.  If that's not good enough I believe that
Canonical, Redhat, Novell and Sun all have support tech contracts
available.

http://www.canonical.com/services/support
https://www.redhat.com/support/offerings/
http://support.novell.com/linux/
http://www.sun.com/service/serviceplans/software/openoffice/

Also it should be pointed out that GNU/Linux systems, if properly
installed, are generally far more reliable than Windows systems and
simpler to maintain, therefore needing less support once they're up
and running.


> My view is that there should be more of a balance. Computers running
> free software should be available, but we have to accept that at
> present it doesn't make sense to train pupils in something they may
> well not meet again. We're not there yet with free software on a
> global scale.

This is true, but when educating children what you need to think about
is not the software environment of today but that of 5-10 years in the
future when those kids will be getting jobs or going to university.

- Bob

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