- cross-posted to:
- teknologi@feddit.dk
- cross-posted to:
- teknologi@feddit.dk
Sorry for the Danish post i hope you can translate it.
The Ministry warns that Microsoft programs can create problems for written exams for students with Mac computers.
Users who have updated the programs to the latest version may experience the programs running slowly, freezing and crashing. This means that the examinees are delayed in their work and that parts of the answers risk being lost, write the Agency for Education and Quality and the Agency for IT and Learning in a notice to schools.
In the Scandinavian countries this sort of software is usually provided by the school/university, so the students don’t have to buy it. You may however be (essentially) forced to use that software, since other options aren’t supported. The exam software my uni uses for instance only runs on Windows & MacOS.
Yeah, and nobody thinks that is a seriously bad idea? Here, please allow is to lock you into all our products so we can ensure you have to use them life long, like it or not.
why is it a bad idea that studenst get some tools, free of charge, that they are free to use (or not if they choose open source or whatever else)? As far as I know, at least in uni, exams can be submitted in different formats, one of those being pdf, which is pretty universal.what would be the alternative?
I would say this segment of @Iceblade02’s post would be the issue, in that people are locked into these systems even if they prefer to use open source software. For example, my university based in the UK requires I submit my assignments in an MS Word format that supports Microsoft’s annotations for the tutor to do all marking up and correcting/commenting on the paper there. There are ways to do the same thing with PDFs, but at least on my modules so far, it hasn’t been an option at all. That’s just for papers and such.
When it comes to exams where you’re supposed to be answering the questions and submitting them as you go, there are schools that insist on you installing monitoring software so they can make sure you aren’t cheating, which only tends to be available for Windows and Mac. I don’t know how common that sort of software is outside the US, but it’s certainly a thing.
The tools aren’t given just out of the goodness of Microsofts heart. Make everyone use word so now if i don’t use words I might run into compatibility issues. Make everyone use Microsoft teams, so well, little options there to even use a competing product.
The issue here is that Microsoft does it to force people into using their products whether they want or need to or not
Microsoft doesn’t give out shit. The schools pay for it.
I can’t find it right now, but there was a quote from a long time ago by Bill Gates where he basically said that it was fine if people were using Microsoft’s products for free because it would get them “addicted”. They would rather have people use Microsoft products even for free if it would prevent them from using alternatives.
That’s why it’s harmful. It’s free for students in the short term, but it prevents them from learning how to use an alternative product that will most certainly be free for them to use forever. Students waste those years when they have a chance to learn something useful, and instead get hooked on proprietary tools that will most certainly fuck them over at some point in the future.