[K12OSN] Linux cut off

[Henry Hartley]

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: k12osn-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:k12osn-bounces at redhat.com] On
Behalf Of KJ
>> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 9:20 AM
>> 
>> I apologize if I sounded like a M$ evangelist.  I'm not, I was
>> simply saying that the business teachers are correct, it is the
>> standard and I understand their point.

While I 
a) understand what you are saying here and 
b) agree that MS software is "the standard in business" (at least
   on the desktop) and
c) understand the business teachers point,

I also disagree that the business teachers are correct. I believe
they are very wrong.  No one here is disputing that MS Office is
much more widely used than (say) OpenOffice.  The dispute is over
whether this implies we should teach MS Office which is what the
business teachers in question are doing.  The point (in my opinion)
is that this conclusion (and therefore the business teachers who
make it) is wrong.  The fact that MS Office is "the standard in
business" is, if not completely irrelevant to the discussion, at
least not central.

In fact, I think that most business people you ask will agree that
knowledge of MS Word is completely useless in a potential employee
if they cannot write (unless perhaps you are hiring an old fashioned
secretary who will do nothing but type someone else's words).  In 
the same way, knowledge of Photoshop in a potential employee is
completely useless if the person is not at least a little bit
artistic.

Furthermore, claims that MS software is the standard in business 
anywhere other than the desktop are less obviously true and in some
cases certainly false.

-- 
Henry