Lucas Crandall / Staff reporter
Schools have been using paid software since before we we’re in school, but why is this, and why do schools not use easily accessible free software? Should they be using more accessible software?
One of the main brands of software products schools use is Microsoft. Microsoft is responsible for creating Office 365 products such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Powerpoint. Last year, Microsoft reported that about 230 000 educational institutions were using Microsoft Teams as their main way of communication due to COVID-19.
The reason so many of these educational places used Office 365 products is because Microsoft offers them to eligible institutions for free. This offer not only includes all the Office 365 software products, but also includes additional classroom tools. This includes anything from universities to home school students.
Art classes often allow students to use Adobe Products for free under similar conditions. These products include Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign.
The reason for this is to get students comfortable with their software so that in the future, they will hopefully purchase Microsoft products after they are out of school, and in turn, no longer have the products for free.
This is where some issues with school using Microsoft come into play. Schools are, in some ways, setting students up to pay for products after they are not free to them anymore.
Graduates may need to use Photoshop to make a design for a brand or create a slideshow on Microsoft PowerPoint for a meeting or interview. In these situations, no one will be able to supply the products for you, which makes you go to buy them yourself.
While there are free alternatives such as Gimp instead of Photoshop or Google products instead of Microsoft Products, using specific products in school make the students comfortable with the software they use in school or makes them assume that is the only software of its type.
From these points, we can conclude that schools should consider using free software in the future as to not harm students in the future.
Cites:
Top 10 Benefits of Using Free Software | Edutopia
Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software – GNU Project – Free Software Foundation
Images:
What Is Adobe Photoshop and What Can It Do? Quickstart for Beginners
Microsoft 365 Migration | Westlake IT | Microsoft 365 Support Services
Google has overhauled G Suite – but not all users will be happy | TechRadar
