A colleague at work sent me this link today, as we increase our hopes of getting Open Office at least available on all school computers:
A new, yet-to-be-fixed security hole in Microsoft Word exposes computer users to cyberattack, Symantec warned Friday.
Would-be intruders already have attempted to compromise PCs at a Japanese government entity by exploiting the flaw, Vincent Weafer, the senior director at Symantec Security Response, said in an interview. In response, Symantec has raised its ThreatCon to Level 2, which means an outbreak is expected.
So that now means if you use Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Word, you are putting your work at risk. So use Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office… they’re better applications anyway!
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May 25, 2006 at 9:01 am
Anonymous
If openoffice did everything that I want then I would use it. It either doesn’t or is klumsy – so I don’t. SURE it does bold, underline etc – so does wordpad. Sure it has a decent spreadsheet – almost (but not really) as good as MS-Office. And yes it has a ppt-like presenter – almost as good as office97.
I would moan my ass off if I was forced to down-grade to OO. But – yeah it’s good for my mum who can’t afford the real thing.
I will *not* advocate something JUST because it’s free or open-source (ish)
May 25, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Anonymous
OO isn’t that bad. But anyone who thinks opensource is inherently safe is nuts. Just this month there’s a firefox issue cuasing dos problems
May 25, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Leigh Blackall
But the fixes for OSS come quicker right? I’m don’t advocate OSS just because its open – though in educational settings that is a pretty good reason to use it – I’m all for performance discussions, and for my uses I honestly feel that Open Office is better than MS.
Just today, was using Writely.com to build upa document. When it came time to bring the writely document into MS, all sorts of shit went wrong. Not a worry opening it in Open Office however.
I would never say Open Office should be the only software option.. but it should at least be available and its use supported in educational settings. Its simply a matter of access and equity for a start.
May 26, 2006 at 11:51 am
Sean
Leigh, I’m glad to see you are continuing to promote open source software. Sure, many FOSS products aren’t quite there yet, but for many users they are adequate, and they are a godsend for poor students and teachers, not to mention developing nations. And only through getting the message out will we see these products reach the critical mass required to tip over into quality products, as I believe has now happened with Firefox. Keep up the good work.
November 2, 2007 at 4:14 pm
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