Old Software or Open Source?

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday December 5, 2007 @04:40AM from the just-give-'em-all-slide-rules dept.

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?"

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Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever. by notaspunkymonkey · 2007-12-05 04:43 · Score: 5, Funny

Yes, next question?...
1. Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever. by trainman · 2007-12-05 04:47 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  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....
2. Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever. by Comboman · 2007-12-05 08:49 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  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.
  
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3. Re:Wow shortest Ask Slashdot ever. by Anonymous Coward · 2007-12-05 11:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  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.
Dear Choir: by Jimmy_B · 2007-12-05 04:53 · Score: 4, Funny

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:Well I'll be hard pressed by carpe_noctem · 2007-12-05 05:33 · Score: 2, Funny

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

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Re:Teaching Graphic Design by YourExperiment · 2007-12-05 05:57 · Score: 2, Funny

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 by joshv · 2007-12-05 06:28 · Score: 4, Funny

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 by krog · 2007-12-05 07:16 · Score: 2, Funny

To the moderator who modded me down,

Dude, you dissed GIMP. On Slashdot.

Grab your ankles and get comfortable.

--
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Re:Teach the commercial software by BeaverCleaver · 2007-12-05 14:34 · Score: 2, Funny

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

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