Becta advises on Microsoft Vista & Office 2007 for schools and colleges

Becta, the UK education technology agency, has published a key report on Microsoft Vista and Office 2007. It covers document interoperability and analyses the suitability of both software packages for adoption by schools and colleges.It recommends that schools and colleges review the findings of the report before considering any large-scale investment or deployment, which are:The key recommendations from Becta's report are:

• Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended and mixed Windows-based operating environments should be avoided. However, Vista should be considered where new institution-wide ICT provision is being planned.
• No widespread deployment of Office 2007 should take place until schools and colleges are sure that they have in place mechanisms to deal with interoperability and potential digital divide issues set out in the report.
• To ensure widest compatibility of files between different applications, users of Office 2007 should not save in Microsoft's new Office format (OOXML).
• Due to limitations in Microsoft's implementation of the Open Document Format (ODF) international standard, users should in the short term continue to save files in the more widely adopted .doc, .xls and .ppt formats.
• Pupils, teachers and parents should also be made aware of the wide range of free-to-use products currently available and on how to use and access them.
• The ICT industry should be facilitating easier access to 'free-to-use' office productivity software.

For more information go to:http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=35287&page=1658&catID=1633For the full report go to:http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=35275