OSS Use Increasing in UK Education Institutions 118
zrq writes "OSS Watch has recently concluded its
2006 survey of UK Higher Education and Further Education institutions. From the report conclusion: A positive picture of the use of OSS (Open Source Software) emerges in both HEs (Higher Education institutions) and FEs (Further Education institutions). Although there are considerable differences between the two types of institutions, in general OSS is used more often than in 2003 and institutions have higher levels of skills and experience of OSS compared to 2003. This survey shows that it is likely that, in the future, use of OSS will continue and expand alongside the use of PS (Proprietary Software)."
Acronyms... (Score:5, Informative)
Why use the acronyms if you're just going to waste further space by defining them? Either use the acronyms, or don't.
Or, for a change, define them correctly, putting the redundant acronym (RA) after the definition so we can read the summary without those ridiculous stumbling blocks.
Re:Acronyms... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Acronyms... (Score:3, Insightful)
Use the markup, Taco! (Score:2)
Or better, use the acronym and make it a link to definition. Use the Web for the original purpose. Or better, use some of the new junk to a good purpose and make acronym do a little yellow popup when the mouse hovers over them.
Re:Use the markup, Taco! (Score:1)
I wouldn't normally bring this up, but since the subject appears to be under discussion...
For bonus points, we could learn the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation, and the corresponding HTML tags.
Re:Acronyms... (Score:1, Informative)
Futher Education (FE) = Last two years of High School (Ages 16-18, give or take), that can be taken at High Schools or at certain specialised colleges. Whilst High School is compulsory to 16 here, you are free to leave after this.
Higher Education (HE) = A mish-mash of Universities, Vocational Degrees, Art Courses and god knows what else. Basically them years after you and got an got yourself edumicated at High School, but whilst you can still call yourself a student on ta
Re:Acronyms... (Score:2)
Re:Acronyms... (Score:2)
Makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Makes sense (Score:1)
KFG
I could be wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
But I could be wrong...though I firmly believe all the above points are correct.
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
I have a sneaking feeling that many Australians would argue that the fact that John Howard is canny makes you worse off. An intelligent enemy is more dangerous than a stupid one. Compare Tony Blair -- he's intelligent, but a bit of a wimp; so you're even worse off than the Brits ... Of course this is all assuming I'm hostile to John Howard (which I am).
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
WRONG: not since 1986 (Score:1)
Sorry, the format messed up, just see link (Score:1)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
People need
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
And it's people with views like yours, I'm afraid, that are the reason I'm moving to Canada as soon as possible. I want to live in a country that's able to be proud of its nationality and culture instead of having it constantly diluted. Have fun in your tower-of-Babel melting-pot.
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
I have no problem with peop
Has America Peaked? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:Has America Peaked? (Score:2)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:4, Interesting)
And here I thought that my school [mit.edu] was firmly planted in the United States. I mean it's not like we've had a whole lot to do with this OSS thing, but we've been at it for a pretty long time.
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
I thought many of them bought contamination credits (whatever they're called)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
I mean politicians are ignorant anywhere. And what policymakers do is often too conservative but civil society really makes inroads. The EU institutioons will soon standardise on ODF, just a matter of time. One or two EU Commissioners even run a weblog [europa.eu]. Microsoft lobbying alienates policians here as does Us foreign policy.
The United States are strong in Social Software, the next big thing. Economic growth still looks good. And despite agrobusiness they are an i
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
I found this an interesting examination of the subject:
"'Planning for an open-source entrant in the PKI interoperability trials' - the result of a feasibility study undertaken in May 2001. Details components that could be used to build an open-source entrant for the trials being conducted by CESG for the Office of the E-Envoy. The focus is on PKI functions to support signed and/or encrypted e-mail."
The paper is available in HTML and PDF:
http:// [skills-1st.co.uk]
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
We may be more keen to try diplomacy, but I am not entirely sure we 'get results' any more than the US in its attempts.
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
What?! Motorola sells the same shit both sides of the Atlantic!
Maybe on UK terrestrial, but with ITV and BBC competing in the Reality market, any mark of quality is gradually fading.
Then again, here in the UK we'll do as anyone tells us.
Aesthetically, there's no beating a European mo
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
I agree -- there's a lot to be said for keeping out of other people's business. If only the jug-eared bastard currently in charge of the UK would do this and sort out his own rapidly deteriorating back yard.
No, no, no. I hope and pray he keeps in other people's business, for a couple more years. Then he won't be able to fuck up this country anymore with things like ID cards, draconian laws against his idea of 'antisocial behaviour', ever-inc
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
Not the UK, which is consistently much lower than even the US, mainly due to Blair sucking up to Gates as much as Bush. The BBC's love for microsoft doesn't do any favours either.
http://www.xitimonitor.com/etudes/equipement13.as
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:2)
Re:I could be wrong... (Score:1)
You are right though, a few countries switching to Euro standard for oil would cripple America (Iran is talking about doing this currently by the way
2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric apps (Score:5, Insightful)
Likewise, Java dev and Oracle, MySQL and PHP can all be done on Linux, as well as some school infrastructure (forums, webpages, etc)
The only place that Windows should be needed is for windows-based multimedia and graphics applications like Dreamweaver, Flash, AutoCAD, Automedia, Digidesign, etc
And many of those are also available on the Mac.
Other than that it seem like only Powerpoint, VBA, VisualStudio and SQL Server as well as Windows Admin classes (Active Directory, etc) would really require Windows machines or Applications.
-What's the speed of dark?
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
You may well be correct, but consider this: when I asked one of the computer science lecturers at the univestity that my daughter attends about their use of OSS vs. MS software, the reply was that they get MS software free or almost free. So the difference in cost is purely related to admin costs, which are more difficult to assess. PHBs a
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1)
There is no commercial equivalent for Eclipse -it is the current defacto standard -same for the others I mentioned and MySQL, etc
and even if they're not interested in ideology they probably still understand that windows products are fragmented, incompatible and often buggy, as well as expensive -even $150 is a lot for a student to pay for an OS or an Office Suite.
-W
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1)
Not so. I just designed and am about to install a system in a school using GNU/Linux. I used these features to reduce capital costs and future costs:
Basically, the money saved on
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1)
Well, we aren't allowed to browse the internet* and we have to write assignments at home, so...
*This started when they put new machines with properly locked down win2000. Before that we could browse the web and even see the transexual porn (I AM NOT KIDDING) in the vice-principal's computer.
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1)
Except for advanced users, Word (tm) and OpenOffice Writer are practically the same.
Moreover, Office is completely fragmented -you have diehard Office 95 types and you have the people who are going to be dragged to what will eventually be an incompatible new version of Office -Office 10 or whatever it will be. Most users use such
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:3, Insightful)
For example from a random job specification I just looked up:
Applicants are expected to have evidence of secretarial/PA experience at a high level and hold relevant typing, word processing and I.T. qualifications. Experience of using Microsoft Office is essential. You will be highly organised and have the ability to prioritise workload and work with minimum supervision. The post also requires excellent in
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
If it was, then we would really have a problem. Fortunately, the 1984-type scenario where people are groomed throughout childhood to be a suitable drone to increase the GDP is not quite there yet.
Speaking for the UK, the bulk of your education (perhaps about 70%) of your education will be (aimed at) providing you with basic building blocks of knowledge and skills for your life in general. A small amount is not, and is driven by outside interests
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
By which I mean, "will go to such absurd lengths to avoid doing something new that it would have been less hassle to just do whatever it is they don't want to in the first place".
"I can't use this new PC, I haven't been trained on it!"
"It's exactly the same as the old one, only the case is a different colour."
"Well I still haven't had any training on it!"
Said person refuses to use the computer until such time as they have bee
Pathetic Students (Score:2)
When I was at university (in the UK) they had in the computer science department six large computing labs. When I started, two were running SuSE Linux and four Windows. The next year, one of the Linux labs was converted to Windows. The year after that, the remaining Linux lab was converted to Windows. During the year when there was only one Linux lab, it was rarely used. I used it often because it was quiet and there was no queue for the printer.
In all my time there, there was only one class scheduled to b
Re:Pathetic Students (Score:2)
Comp. Sci. students that won't use Linux. For shame.
Here at [whistles].ac.uk, there used to be two large UNIX facilities on the main campus: one room full of Sun Ultra 5 workstations, another with SGI O2s. I used to like those workstations. I had no real reason to use them other than I liked UNIX (I was a Physics undergrad then) and found it much easier to code with (and I occasionally had Engineering and Comp. Sci. students asking me how to use it — another sorry indictment or what?!). One summer, a
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:1)
- Producing slides. When I present at an international conference, the standard specification is Powerpoint. Yes, I can produce my slides in OpenOffice, but we all know that OO and MS Office don't quite interact. I want my slides to look right and it's important that those diagrams and equations appear exactly as I int
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:2)
You're falling for the common fallacy that all software is either "office software" (WP, graphics, etc.) or "Internet software" (e-mail, web stuff, etc.).
In the academic world, this is far from true. There are countless specialist teaching programs out there, many of which run on Windows.
Re:2 track approach best-Linux + Windows-centric a (Score:3, Informative)
Schools in my area get Windows XP for £30 and Office for £45 per seat. I'm currently setting every PC in the school to dual boot XP and Ubuntu as there are just too many apps that are Windows based that teachers would be lost (or at least very confused) without.
We saved a fortune on Windows 2003 server licences and using E-Groupware saved £5 per seat exchange licences for 800 people. All of our servers run Redhat academic licences (£35 per server + no CALs) an
More interesting use in education (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It;s CHEAP to install !!! what do you expect (Score:1)
Does linux run pikavoley natively?
PS: I'm not sure 3.1 runs pikavoley, we started playing it at school when they upgraded to 95 or 98.
wish it was like that here (Score:4, Informative)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Now that's just hysterical.
btw, when my university told me about their "strict" OS policy, I a Knoppix disc at them, used ssh to connect to my server at home, and told them to bite me.
I never heard a peep from the sysadmin again. Although you might not be able to do that, I really had nothing to lose at the time.
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:4, Insightful)
This is particularly true of middle managers who are worried about their jobs: the open source people tend to scare the tar out of them by blowing their pet projects sky high. It's incredibly frustrating to try and get them to loosen their grip: it takes presenting them, and especially their managers, with hard numbers on the benefits of open source software to their productivity and especially to their costs.
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
Or they take the (not unreasonable) view that if they're responsible for the network, and it's their ass on the line if security is breached and damage is done, then having unknown (to them) systems with access is a vulnerability that should be addressed.
Havi
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
It's interesting to imagine how history would have been diff
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
This is true, but there are certain tradeoffs involved in operating in a University environment
(I don't know the Community College environment so well). The basic tradeoff is less money
compared to what I would pull in in industry, and a (subjectively) more
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
Explain to me how have a Linux or Mac OSed machine sitting on a properly DMZed intranet is any more of a security threat than have any machine on the intranet.
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
<IT guy> No, you explain to me why they're not, sufficiently convincingly that I'm willing to bet my job on it. </IT guy>
Calling me a troll doesn't make a convincing argument, particularly when you'
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
You're both deliberately ignoring my point and deliberately using a dubious counterexample.
If Windows is an operational requirement, then you are forced to deal with Windows security issues, regardless of what else is on the network. This can be
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Why don't you point out that to your boss (not IT) this new policy will affect your ability to do your job, the ability of the CS guy to do his job, and will gerneally work to the detriment of students?
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:2)
Are IT responsibler for all hiring and firing of staff? Seems to be a lot of power for a single department.
Yeah, it's a huge power grab by IT, and for that reason alone, they may not succeed.
Why don't you point out that to your boss (not IT) this new policy will affect your ability to do your job, the ability of the CS guy to do his job, and will gerneally work to the detriment of students?
Yeah, we've pretty much done that. The really insane thing is that, for years, the science division has been te
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
They want to make it a firing offense if you even connect a keychain drive to your computer in order to transfer files. There is also language in the proposed policy that would make it a firing offense if you change the settings on your computer; as written, it would seem to state that if you, say, turn off the spell checker in Word, yo
Re:wish it was like that here (Score:1)
MS has a new plan (Score:1)
What if you do not have the resources to give full computing support to all your students?
MS would have just screamed at the offending government about freedom (to profit).
Now MS can call in a new option.
A 'foundation' that will help all fiscally challenged counties with just what they need.
No more leaks about chats or rushed visits.
All you get now is caring, understanding, embracing charity of 'free' quality software solutions.
The extended upgrade path is not so 'free'.
If d
My experience (Score:1, Informative)
Re:My experience (Score:1)
Education issues (Score:4, Interesting)
Most courses (and software used in courses) are written for Windows and Office. We still use Office 2000 because every time we try to upgrade you would think the sky is falling because a menu option has changed or the window looks slightly different. Lecturers are whiners and lazy when it comes to updating course material.
Where Linux is mainly used in UK education is basically anything that the staff and students don't get their hands on and where you need reliability - in other words servers. Firewalls, proxies, email relays, DNS, DHCP, web servers, moodle, storage, network managment, spam filtering, web filtering, streaming media - you name it, if it runs on Linux it will get used as quite frankly it's free, and there are no stupid user license issues. User licenses can kill a project at a University or large college for one simple reason - an organisation with say 2000 desktops will have around 20,000 students enrolled. Many commercial systems will actually expect you to buy a license for every user rather than every desktop. For example a commercial web filtering system like Websense expects a license for every user, regardless of how many can actually use the web at once - simply not going to happen, especially when there are just as good free solutions like the superb Dans Guardian.
Re:Education issues (Score:2)
Gosh, where I am must be really unusual, then.
Here, the undergraduate teaching is all done on Linux boxes running a customized version of Knoppix that includes all the important apps:
And every undergraduate gets a copy.
Not to mention that out of eight people in my research group, five use L
Re:Education issues (Score:2)
Re:Education issues (Score:2)
There are 12 Windows workstations available for undergraduates, but all undergraduate teaching activites that involve or require the use of computers takes place on the Linux workstations (about 100-150 of them in the Design and Project Office). (This only applies to the Engineering department here; I here the mathematicians use Windows almost exclusively).
All that is changing. (Score:3, Interesting)
There was a time when they mandated Office, but I guess enough students talked sense into them.
Re:All that is changing. (Score:2)
It's easy to say 'everyone use Linux' when you don't have to foot the bill and logistics of switching. Not to say that it's a bad idea, just that in the real world they are not indicative of a 'real' university or college.
Re:All that is changing. (Score:2)
Minor quibble, not directed at you: the OU is a 'real' university in the sense that it is a well-respected institution whose degrees are accepted as equivalent to other UK institutions (it would probably feature in the top 20 of the Sunday Times Good University Guide on aspects such as teaching quality, but can't be in the league table because other aspects don't really match the judgement criteria).
(This is ju
Informing (Score:3, Interesting)
How do OSS representatives get to the table in situations like this? I guess the answer must be through ensuring that anyone at that table could represent OSS.
Re:Informing (Score:2)