{"id":726,"date":"2007-11-29T18:00:42","date_gmt":"2007-11-29T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/29\/making-software-simpler-instead-of-more-complex\/"},"modified":"2007-11-29T18:02:57","modified_gmt":"2007-11-29T18:02:57","slug":"making-software-simpler-instead-of-more-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/29\/making-software-simpler-instead-of-more-complex\/","title":{"rendered":"Making software simpler instead of more complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those crazy kids at KOffice have created a simplified version of their office suite especially geared for kids<\/a>. A cool feature, though, is that it’s fully interoperable with the “adult” version of the suite, so teachers\/parents can open documents created by students\/kids and vice versa. Nice.<\/p>\n

open… has some nice thoughts<\/a> on the role of open source in a process like this:<\/p>\n

\nThese are precisely the kind of innovations that free software makes so easy: hacking together a quick prototype and then polishing it. Let’s hope that other simplified versions follow, since an “Easy” Office would be useful far beyond its original target market, education.<\/p>\n

It would also be a nice riposte to never-ending complexification of Microsoft’s own products, which are forced to add more and more obscure features – whether or not users what them – in a desperate attempt to justify yet another paid-for upgrade. Free software is under no such pressure, and can therefore downgrade applications when that might appropriate, as here. Microsoft, by contrast, is trapped by its ratchet-based business model.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\t

\n\tTags: Education<\/a>, open source<\/a>, software<\/a>
<\/div>\n\n\n\t

Related posts<\/h4>\n\t