OSSDI to Distribute OpenOffice.org in Schools

Xampper writes to tell us that the OSSDI (Open Source Software Distribution Initiative) is a new organization that has cropped up to help not only spread the word about Open Source Software, but to help distribute the OpenOffice.org office suite starting with less fortunate school districts. The OSSDI describes their current status as still being in its "infancy as an organization. Because of this, all of our current resources are focused on gaining supporters, raising funds, and recruiting volunteers. Plans are under-way for our first software distribution, but we must first cover our operating costs. We are also interested in becoming a registered not for profit corporation so that donors will receive tax breaks for their gifts, but the registration process can also be very costly and time-consuming."

Comments

Oy.

[Xampper]

The timing of this post hit me just as I was migrating our email services to Google Hosted Services. If you email OSSDI and get a bounce, try again in an hour. Sorry about the trouble!

less fortunate school districts?

[usv]

As in those currently having only MS software?

Come back when you've grown up

[Harmonious Botch]

Ok, your heart is in the right place, but you seem a bit unprepared. I mean, if you can't cope with the bureaucracy of registering as a non-profit, how are you going to cope with the bureaucracy of school management?

Re:Come back when you've grown up

[garcia]

I mean, if you can't cope with the bureaucracy of registering as a non-profit, how are you going to cope with the bureaucracy of school management?

What's the difference if they do that or not? I'd rather have them be an unregistered social club that gets the job done than worry about being registered as a non-profit.

Unless they are looking to avoid paying taxes and sales taxes, there shouldn't be a real need for that anyway.

Re:Come back when you've grown up

[ortholattice]

I mean, if you can't cope with the bureaucracy of registering as a non-profit, how are you going to cope with the bureaucracy of school management?

I briefly looked into (and gave up) applying for non-profit status for an open-source project - the main reason being so that people could deduct donations on their tax forms - and found out that it can be a real pain that distracts from your goals. After all, it dips into Uncle Sam's (in the U.S.) revenue, so they aren't motivated to make the approval and appeal process simple. And it isn't free, either, although the fees (was it $135/yr?) aren't too unreasonable. Most organizations have their lawyers set the thing up, although it can be done without a lawyer if you're willing to do the requirements research and paperwork.

An alternative that I started to investigate, that is apparently much easier, was to seek what's called "fiscal sponsorship" from another organization that already has an approved U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. There are very strict rules about the nature of financial transactions that can take place between the two entities, but the basic idea is that donations are made to the sponsoring entity, which then decides to fund the subsidiary according to what they perceive it needs. The main advantages are that donations are tax-deductible and donors supposedly have some assurance that their funds aren't personally enriching the donee instead of being used for the project. (I didn't complete the process of setting this up for other reasons, though, so that's all I know about it.) Anyway, that's what I would recommend that the story submitter look into.

Re:Distribution on CD?

[Xampper]

Just because a school has resources to download the software doesn't mean they will. They're much more likely to try it out if they have the CD sitting in front of them. Also, we're targeting the students more than the schools themselves, the schools are just a vehicle for distribution.

Will this be OpenOffice for Windows?

[popo]

Because there's something very strange about providing a free office suite that runs on an expensive OS.

Why not distribute a Linux distro bundled with OOo?

Otherwise the overall mission seems compromised by the platform.

Why just Open Office?

[planetmn]

I like the idea. Though it certainly is not going to be easy to find districts willing to install and support the software on their own if they don't have experience with it.

But why just Open Office? Why not do something with (or like) Edubuntu, and distribute an entire platform that has the administration and management tools built in? People are definately hesitent to change, but if they are going to learn something new (in this case Open Office), it might be a good time for them to jump right in (especially if you, or a group of local volunteers can spend time training them).

-dave

Re:Distribution on CD?

[nharmon]

Also, we're targeting the students more than the schools themselves, the schools are just a vehicle for distribution.

For a minute there I forgot we were talking about OO.org CDs, and not drugs.

Re:Distribution on CD?

[lcsjk]

Give a person a CD and they will probably give it a try. Tell them that there is a nifty program on a website somewhere that they can download, burn to a CD and they will walk away and do it when they have time, which is never.

Have you ever wondered why AOL sent so many CDs instead of telling people that the program is on the internet?

Re:Distribution on CD?

[Lord_Slepnir]

"Psssst.... want some Open Office?"
"I don't know. My dad says to stay with Microsoft Office"
"Come on! It's free!"
"But at school, they said that OpenOffice is a gateway program, and that I'll soon be hitting the heavy stuff like Linux"
"This ain't linux! What's wrong with just trying just a little bit of OpenOffice"
"But my friend Jimmy started on just a little bit of OpenOffice, now he spends all of his time trolling forums and posting in Vi vs. Emacs threads. I wanted to play some Quake with him last night, and he said that he was too busy rebuilding his Gentoo system from Stage 1 with some really cool flags some guy gave him on the internet." *Starts Crying* "I don't want strange guys on the internet giving me flags!"
"what are you, some kind of wimp?"
"I'm going to walk away now. Friends don't let friends use Open Source"

This message brought to you by Open Source Abuse Resistance Education. Just say no to Open Source

Re:Training costs, or, "why change is always bad."

[Monsuco]

but it can be quickly scuttled by the rank-and-file if they're resistant to change.

My dad works for school districts. He said back in the early 1990's teachers were furious that they were told they had to use this new fangled e-mail instead of network mail. All of the teachers were complaining about how complicated this new e-mail would be. They wanted their network mail. Finally, after some heavy pushing from the district, they submitted to this horribly complex e-mail. Now they obviously could never go back. Change can happen even when people don't want it to.