Thursday 10 January 2008

Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 (Becta Report)

Becta, the education technology agency, has published a key report on Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 which analyses its suitability for adoption by learning providers, recommending that IT departments review the findings of the report before considering any large-scale investment in these software packages. (The report is aimed predominantly at schools and further education but the same issues affect Work Based Learning providers who are considering future upgrades.)

It notes that "upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended and mixed Windows-based operating environments should be avoided."

It also states that IT users “… should also be made aware of the wide range of free-to-use products currently available and on how to use and access them…” and “…the ICT industry should be facilitating easier access to 'free-to-use' office productivity software.”

I agree entirely and by pure co-incidence this also leads on nicely to another post I wrote earlier today. (Free software anyone? )

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