Universities are the last refuge for the *nix fanbois and Open Source cultists. If you wonder why the university wide mail system isn't working, why no-one can read each other's attachments and why the apps go down regularly, it can always be traced to some starry eyed IT functionary who believes that using OSS and an OS that less than 1% of the world use, is somehow a step foward.
In business IT departments, these people wouldn't even have a job, but academia provides their elephants' graveyard.
But you've gone one step further Zach, you want decisions made by the great uniformed mass of students. As it's been said the road to hell is paved with good intentions You also have to appreciate that the point of the university is to educate, not grant the students wishes or uphold some political system. Standard UI, security, standard formats and standard apps will make the whole process work and keep the size of the help desk reasonable.
While I see the use of OSS as forcing students to use bad clones of trailing edge software, it would still be preferable to use a standard suite of OSS, than let the students choose. The same with Google versus MS cloud tools. MS is obviously superior and has the best integration with modern software, but standardising on Google is still better than student anarchy.
Next you'll be suggesting the students vote on which learning topics should be included in a course
Finally, you seem to suggest universities have a part to play in promulgating OSS software. I would suggest OSS lives and dies by being useful and does not require a holy crusade.
Zack Whittaker is in New York City.
Democracy is a strange concept in today’s society, as something nations, states and ideologies will invade to promote the idea. Within the typical university environment, you will find a hotbed of student radicalisation and empowerment by which often means the promoting of one’s beliefs and opinions onto others.
With universities all over the world suffering still from economic hardship after the deep cutting global financial crisis, open source technology and outsourcing services have been a major playing field for those in the education industry; cutting down costs to cheaper alternatives is vital in restoring the balance books.
But when the two come together, often they don’t see eye to eye. My thought is this. Seeing as students pay their way through college and the higher education system, why not give us a say in their IT surroundings and allow us the decision to decide what technologies, products and services to use?
Many applications are niche and practically irreplaceable: SPSS for statistical analysis, used highly in psychology and mathematics, and AutoCAD for another example, used to render 3D drawings and the like. These are almost bog-standard in any university library public PC.
But for those finishing their first, second and anywhere up to and including their penultimate year of study, students should be given the chance to vote on the software they use.
The best example is the good old Google Apps for Education vs. Microsoft Live@edu outsourced email and collaboration suites. They both rival each other and Microsoft is winning the competition. But it would be an unprecedented move to actually consult and ask the students directly which they would prefer. Pilots have been successful and unsuccessful and based vastly on student opinion, but the final say-so rests with those with the chequebooks.
Though the infrastructure would logically need to be addressed by those who were qualified to understand such complex workings, but the software available to use as customisable to the person in hand is crucial to opening the desktop application market to the more marginalised programs. Open source programs and services could be allowed to flourish, though it could lead to the more typical suite of applications reigning through sheer student ignorance.
My question is simple. Why not?
