Software tools available in EGR

We have worked to provide a broad range of software in our labs, on our classroom carts, and on our teacher machines. From drawing programs in the lower grades, to computer aided drawing tools at the secondary our students have the tools that enable them to investigate, process, and share their thinking with the school community and the world. In our current model, we use commercial software like Microsoft Office, KidPix, and Adobe Premiere. The challenge with these over time is that new versions replace old and upgrading always comes at a cost. To investigate an alternative, I have been using Open Source software exclusively on the desktop computer in my office for a year now. This is all free software, some titles you may already use on your computer. Firefox from Mozilla is Open Source, as is Open Office which looks and feels pretty much the same as Office 2003 from Microsoft. I believe that in order to provide a sustainable set of tools that never need an upgrade license, we need to increase our use of these tools and dramatically reduce the money we spend on software licensing.