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Re: [LUG] Kids failing on coursework because of proprietary file formats

 

On 17/06/10 12:51, James Andrews wrote:

My daughters school (Uffculme) use MS software pretty much exclusively.
I was encountering consumer resistance from her as we were using Open
Office at home and it is subtly different to the MS programs.

So when I got her a new laptop, it was MS Windows and I bought a
"student edition" of MS Office suite

Even so there has been a couple of occasions when she has wanted to have
MS Publisher or some other Billyware just because that's what the
teacher was using.  And the student edition doesn't include every single
obscure program in the MS line up.


Yep, IIRC they supply the basics in the Home/Student edition of Office, and don't supply Publisher. When I *cough* bought a Windows 7 Upgrade *cough* for the wife on the student offer she was also offered a cheap Office 2007 Pro package. I think it was something like £60. I gather this is open to anyone in education or anyone who has kids in education. Still cost's an arm and a leg for the software though if you're on a limited income, not to mention the cost of making sure your PC is up to the job of running it (not everyone has a nice new fast PC to run Office 2007 and it runs like a dog with 512MB Ram on XP).


Now the laptop is not connecting to the 'Net, apparently because we
switched wireless routers and Windows XP Sp3 has various bizarre
problems with interoperability.

This might not be strictly down to XP. To be fair I've not had any major problems with wireless on Windows XP, no more problems than I've had on Windows Vista (when I ran it on my laptop for a month or two), Windows 7 or Ubuntu. I have found my wireless network coverage has got worse but I think it might be down to extra wireless networks popping up in the area which are all interfering (I've counted about 8 from my house).


This is a PITA because most of her homework seems to involve googling
for images to put in various presentations


I can imagine so. Have you tried an ethernet cable? Not ideal I know. Or maybe try changing the wireless channel on your router to see if it helps.

Rob

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