Open Source makes historic UK breakthrough

Both The Inquirer and The Register are carrying this story. I must admit I was wondering what all the fuss was about because as I understand it schools are just as eligible to use Open Source software as anyone else. We know of many schools in New Zealand that are and I had assumed that it would be similar in the UK. It turns out that what has actually happened is that one of the 'Apathy Excuses' has been removed... namely 'It's not on the approved list'.

We see this sort of excuse used time and time again by various organisations as a reason for not doing anything so while it may seem to us to be a tedious exercise to get on these approve or purchase lists they do have their uses.

The 'Best Practice' voodoo mantra is the another of the major apathy excues I see. People tend to use the phrase as a magic sword to ward off 'evil' logic and ignore critique.

'Best Practice' is in fact just a recipe that has been proven to work over a period of time. It may be a very good recipe but it is still only a recipe and you can change it if it doesn't suit your needs or tastes... too much garlic? Don't put as much in then! Proprietary software makes you gag? Again, don't put as much in...

In fact, here's a thought, experiment a little. Write your own recipe... who knows, one day it might be 'Best Practice'...