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South African Education Department Bans Free and Open Source Software
An anonymous reader writes "The South African Education Department has effectively banned the use of FOSS software in state-run schools by forcing all candidates writing the Computer Applications Technology examination to use Microsoft's Office 2010 or 2013 as the only supported options. In the same circular, the state has mandated that all schools use Delphi, instead of Java, as the programming language for the country's Information Technology practical paper. South Africa, notorious for its poor performance in Maths and Science and for having vastly over-crowded and underfunded schools, are now locked into costly Microsoft licensing because of this decision."
Well, I don't smell any hint of corruption here, no sirree!
</sarcasm>
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Mark Shuttleworth, please speak up!
Oh one other thing: anybody who says that using "Delphi" is somehow not "open-source" while using Java is "open source" doesn't understand the difference between a programming language in the abstract and a particular piece of software that compiles or interprets code written in the language in the concrete needs a head exam.
Something tells me these guys: http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/ would get offended if you tell them that they hate open source because they have an open source implementation of Delphi. Since Delphi is a descendant of Pascal, which has a long history in software education, it's not some evil conspiracy to use Delphi in a classroom setting.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Yep. I'm a FOSS advocate, and I just read the memo linked in the similarly-hyped FA... but this story is a waste of a good outrage.
A state-led education department has picked a particular product used to cover their basic computing curriculum, and it isn't FOSS. That sucks, but we'll try harder next time. Meanwhile, other schools not under this authority are free to use FOSS, and any schools that can manage extra resources (unlikely, I know) can still present FOSS as alternatives, and FOSS can probably still be used outside the curriculum.
I set up a computer lab in Ghana, and they had similar policies in place, but with vague enough wording that I could use a carefully-configured OpenOffice installation to cover the requirements. I suspect the actual mandated curriculum in South Africa is likely similar, and this news is just a memo from the authority saying they made the easy choice for picking their standard software.
TRWTF is Delphi.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
In SA, they do not call it a kick back, they call it a "Facilitation Fee" :P
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
If my $10 mil company can't afford Office 2013 and is switching to Libre, how the hell can an African school system afford it?
Relax, all the documents created are ISO standards. There's no lock-in here.
"The South African Education Department has effectively banned the use of FOSS software in state-run schools by forcing all candidates writing the Computer Applications Technology examination to use Microsoft's Office 2010 or 2013 as the only supported options."
Fascinating, apparently MS-South Africa has sophisticated technology that seeks out and destroys all open source software simply because Microsoft Office is used for some tasks. This new learning is amazing! Tell me again how sheep-bladders can be used to prevent earthquakes!
That technology is called "convenience" and "money", and is what was meant by "effectively banned" rather than saying "completely banned".
Once you've spent the money to purchase the non-FOSS tools that the school requires you to use, you're not going to seek out free/open source replacements for those tools.
A few FOSS zealots may be willing to use LibreOffice, FreePascal, Linux, etc for most things, and only use the paid tools when he absolutely has to, but the average user isn't going to pay for one environment to use for special tasks, and then set up a completely different FOSS environment where he'll do most of his work.
(I'm one of those few, I use Linux for 99% of my work, but rdp into a Windows server to run Outlook, Visio, MS-Office, etc when I need to)
If my $10 mil company can't afford Office 2013 and is switching to Libre, how the hell can an African school system afford it?
Office 365 plans and pricing for education [South Africa]
Plan A3
Students:
R 23,30 user/month
Faculty and staff:
R 42,00 user/month
1 South African Rand = 10 cents US.
Includes:
Hosted e-mail. 25 GB/user.
Web conferencing, supports HD video, etc.
3,000 SharePoint team sites.
Active directory integration
24/7 phone support
Anti-spam and anti-malware
Office Web Apps
MS Office "Pro" Suite for 5 PCs or Macs/user
Advanced e-mail, advanced voice mail.
May include "MS Office Anywhere" --- stream full Office apps to any PC.
So what are your monthly costs per user for an equivalent bundle of applications and services? How well does Libre Office integrate with third party applications and resources?
That's not very Ubuntu feelings, I can feel.