Old Software or Open Source?

Pakled writes "I teach a high school multimedia course. We were scheduled to get new software this year but due to several pointy haired bosses, no software was ordered. The software I have to teach is Flash 5, Dreamweaver 2000, Photoshop 7 and (god help me) Movie Maker. The question is: is it better to teach old commercial software or their open source counterparts (Komposer, Gimp, etc.)? Is the steep learning curve and slightly less uniform design worth a little student frustration to teach them software written in the past 5 years?"

Comments

Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever.

[notaspunkymonkey]

Yes, next question?...

Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever.

[trainman]

Agreed. This person came to slashdot to ask such a question?

It'd be like asking Larry Ellison, "So, I have this old version of Oracle we use in the classroom, but I want to upgrade to something newer. Tell me about this MySQL thing I keep hearing about...."

Heaven help us if RMS ever gets wind of this article....

Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever.

[Comboman]

Sorry but I feel obliged to opint out that the word is albeit

Sorry, but I feel obliged to point out that the word is point.

Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, but I feel obliged to point out that the word is point.

I am obliged to you for pointing that out, but I feel obligated to point out that the word is obligated.

bad software

[NynexNinja]

No wonder why the dropout rates are so high!

Dear Choir:

[Jimmy_B]

Dear Choir:
        I teach a high school theology course. We were scheduled to get new books this year but due to several pointy haired bosses, no books were ordered. The books I have to teach are (god help me) pagan scrolls from the 3rd century BC. The question is: is it better to teach old religions or their open text counterparts (Christianity, Hinduism, etc)? Is the steep learning curve and slightly less uniform world view worth a little damnation to teach them religion founded in the past 5000 years?

Re:Throw in a little school-angst...

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking as a former school board member, teach the class with the Open Source software. Then, when the students have mastered a presentation, take it to the board and show off. Nothing opens the bureaucratic eye like having cold water/facts stuffed in their face with style and panache. As a finale, thank the board for opening your eyes to new software by not funding the classroom needs.

Re:Dept of redundancy department

[notaspunkymonkey]

Damn, in a rush to elaborate on my previous rushed and redundant post I have made countless spelling mistakes during said elaboration. Now in my rush to highlight said spelling mistakes and unfortunate word omissions, then to apologise for them I have yet again posted something that will be marked as redundant - will this ever end??? will it????

Re:Well I'll be hard pressed

[carpe_noctem]

Yes, and judging from how your personal website looks, the results must be simply breathtaking....

Re:Teaching Graphic Design

[YourExperiment]

Sorry to reply to your sig rather than the story, but I just wanted to say that your sarcasm punctuation mark is a really great idea.~

Re:Teach the commercial software

[joshv]

I stand corrected, the fact they there exists one person who was hired for their Gimp skills clearly obviates my claim that very very few people get hired for their skills with the Gimp.

Re:Wake up

[krog]

To the moderator who modded me down,

Dude, you dissed GIMP. On Slashdot.

Grab your ankles and get comfortable.

Re:Teach the commercial software

[BeaverCleaver]

Uh, I don't think he was talking about the software...