DeWitt Public Schools (Michigan) Moving to OpenOffice
The Lansing State Journal writes, District set to use free productivity software.
Moving to OpenOffice.org will save the DeWitt Public Schools over $48,000 in software licensing fees next year:
“Microsoft Office® licenses for next year, if purchased, would cost the district almost double the current $24,000 price tag! This hefty annual fee has caused DeWitt, similar to others in the county, state and even nationally, to look for other options. One option is the OpenOffice software suite offered by the OpenOffice.org Project.”
Even more important than saving money, is offering the students the best possible education:
“Our students will be expected to be versatile in a variety of technology tools upon their graduation, not just the one application promoted in the states. OpenOffice.org is available in 65 languages and is quickly becoming the global standard for colleges, corporations, international communications and world markets as the number one productivity suite. In fact, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a global standards development body has selected the open document format used in OpenOffice as the basis for interoperability among office software packages worldwide. We owe it to the children’s future to provide them with an understanding of software that fully embraces such global standards.”
What a forward-looking district, and what a boon this move will provide to students being educated there!