Government agency Becta has told schools and colleges to
steer clear of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 products
as they do not offer any new “must have” features for the education
sector.
A report from the British Educational Communications and Technology
Agency concluded that while the new features of Vista added
value, there were “no ‘must have’ features in the product that
would justify early deployment in schools and colleges”.
The report added that “the technical, financial and
organisational challenges associated with early deployment [of
Vista] currently make this a high risk strategy. Early deployment
is therefore strongly recommended against.”
The report recommended that Microsoft facilitate a small number
of pilot activities to clarify what the benefits of deploying Vista
in schools and colleges would be and how much deployment would
cost.
Becta said the cost of a widespread deployment of Vista in
schools and colleges was currently estimated at around £160m, while
the benefits were unclear.
There will be a final Becta report on Vista and its possible
widespread use by January 2008.
A Becta review of Office 2007 identified more than 170 new
features, but considered many of them to be of more use in a
business environment than an educational one.
A detailed analysis of the new functionality again found that
none of the new features was a “must have” for schools and
colleges.
Becta said, “As the costs of deployment of Office 2007 would be
significant, Becta has not identified any convincing justification
for the early adoption of Office 2007.”
The report said that many rival products delivered about 50% of
Office 2007's functionality, but that this was enough to meet or
exceed the basic office productivity requirements of many
schools.
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