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[Taken from the NAACE newsletter]

Following their interim report in January 2007, Becta’s final report on installing MS Vista and Office 2007 remains cautious. The key recommendations [quote]:

• 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.

Becta’s Executive Director of Strategic Technologies, Dr. Stephen Lucey, said, “Our objective is to make sure schools and colleges get the best possible value for money. Our advice is to be sure there is a strong business case before upgrading to these products as the costs are significant and the benefits remain unclear.”

The full report is available at http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=35275
Press release http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=35287&page=1658&catID=1633