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On Mon, 2011-05-16 at 11:31 +0100, Grant Sewell wrote: > On Mon, 16 May 2011 10:12:37 +0000 > Adam Latham wrote: > > > Some of you may remember that I work in a Secondary school - not in > > ICT thankfully. > > > > Today I received our BTEC subject Assessment materials on CD-ROM and > > the requirements read like a who's-who of computer fascism: > > > > <SNIPPED> > > > > World domination, just another (depressing) step closer for M$ and > > adooby-dooby-do. > > > > Adam > > Message sent using BlackBerry > > Adooby-dooby-do... I like that. :D > > If they are mandating IE7+ or Firefox 3, then chances are that aspect > of it will work in any browser. I doubt they'd've gone to the extend > of writing their own custom add-ons for those two specific browsers. > If they'd mentioned 1 browser, then I could believe it... but writing > add-ons for 2 browsers? I'm not so sure. > Grant, it would appear that they're using a Flash container to be the provider of all things pretty, which requires the use of a browser (or a browser Object at least) My difficulty and disappointment stems from the fact that the installer will install (even under Mac I suspect, with compatibility layers) but this container checks for the presence of these 2 proprietary programmes and refuses to allow you to open any documents from the interface if it doesn't find them. > They are saying "MS Office 2003 or better", so it would suggest the > files in question are Microsoft .doc, .xls, .ppt, etc. These should > open with little or any noticeable changes in Libre/OpenOffice. > They would if you can find the blimmin' things! The installer attempts to hide them in a silly place! Grrrr! > Also, it is unlikely any of the PDF documents are going to include any > weird and wonderful Adobe-only features if they're specifying Adobe > Reader 8+, so they should open OK with Evince or XPDF, or others. > Again, if you can find the blimmin' things, I can open them in Evince easy. It defeats the purpose for me! If I can't open them from the interface, just give me the files then. I suppose they have to try and attempt to justify the expense somehow... > It is annoying, especially if they interface they've created is > essentially just a bunch of HTML files with hyperlinks to the included > documents - why not make the whole thing into HTML? Why mess around > with MSOffice & PDF? > The reason to mess around with these prop. software's is either Political (cultural imperialism) - only those who can afford it, can use it, or (more logically) to extend the monopoly like status of Micros**t and Adooby-dooby-do, within the education sector. I got the files off now, so I can put the disc and the proprietary stuff where the sun don't shine, for now! > Grant (also in the education sector and having to deal with BTEC stuff). > Ooooooohhhhhhhhh! Deepest sympathies with that one! Adam -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq