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Earlham College Moves to OpenOffice

Earlham College, a Quaker college in Richmond, Indiana, has upgraded all of its public computers to OpenOffice. (This upgrade seems to have taken place at the beginning of 2005.)

From the College’s website:
“The point is not that we can’t afford Microsoft Office (it is expensive, but academic discounts make it more affordable for schools and students), the point is that those we serve may not be able to afford it. To the extent we foster the expectation that everyone has access to Microsoft Office we exclude the vast majority of people in the world who don’t have it and probably never will.

The good news is that OpenOffice can do nearly everything Microsoft Office can (and a lot of things it can’t), and once you have learned how to use it you can show others; anyone who can muster the price of a used computer can have access to its power. The great news is that OpenOffice can open Microsoft Office documents just fine and even re-save them in the same format, so there are almost no compatibility issues when collaborating on projects with people who are using Microsoft Office.”

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