I can see why using a free online tool such as Open Office would have its advantages. First, it is free to distribute this tool. Teachers can burn copies of the program to disks for students and allow students an opportunity to use them free of charge. There would be no copyright violations or concerns. Secondly, the free program would be available on any computer. If you are not at home or work with your Microsoft Suite, you could still get work done. It was nice to read that it runs on all major computing platforms and appears very easy to use.
A couple of days ago I was on the computer (I think doing an activity for this class) and came across an article discussing the advantages/disadvantages of moving your whole world to Google (including Google Docs). Although this may be convenient, you're pretty much opening up everything to the same company. The article raised issues of privacy concerns. Also, will Google use this information (or sell it) to advertisers (or others) at some point in the future?
Although I can see the benfits, I think there are also some risks. Our district has purchased the Microsoft products for all of the campuses, so I don't expect them to go anywhere soon. It will be interesting to follow this concept over time and see how it works out. It may be good to try for some limited applications, but I think I'll maintain Microsoft Office for the big ones.
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