In an IGCSE course I teach we have recently switched from pay software to free software.
| Task | Pay software | Free software |
| Word processing | MS Word | OO Writer |
| Spreadsheet | MS Excel | OO Calc |
| Database | MS Access | OO Base |
| Web authoring | MS FrontPage | Kompozer |
| Presentation authoring | MS PowerPoint | OO Impress |
| Image manipulation | Adobe PhotoShop | Irfanview |
MS = Microsoft, OO = Open Office.
So far the students have welcomed the change saying for instance that Writer is better than Word and Kompozer better than FrontPage.
As you can see we just do modest image editing so Irfanview is all we need. We may add Gimp and other free software to the list, but this is the beginning.
Why do people/schools prefer to pay for software or use pay software illegally? The main two reasons I believe are ignorance and inertia. They do not know that free alternatives exist, and if they do, they do not see any reason to learn a slightly different software for the task at hand.
Dario Fo is hinting to a third reason.
Tidy fees are the most effective remedy, both for the doctor and the patient.
In other words, if it is free it cannot be good, if it is expensive it has to be good.
Here are just three places where good, free software can be found.
- Student’s Guide to Free Software
- Reinstall Windows and outfit your system with all freeware programs
- 101 Great Free Sites and Downloads You’ve Probably Never Heard Of