How should I suggest to my principle to get Open-Office on school computers.?

Ok well first of all I talked to the school computer teacher about OpenOffice being put on the school computers. I have asked her a trillion times like before spring break she said she would. But she didn't than Christmas break and still she didn't. She finally put it on two computers in the computer lab but still thats not good enough for me considering im never in the computer lab because my English class is in the English classroom like it is supposed to be. So now I wait and wonder will it ever happen? Just this morning I received some stupid promotion from the school principal saying oh if you Pre-order MsOffice 2010 than the school will get a discount for MsOffice 2010 when it comes out. The school also complains about stuff like oh we don't have money to buy a track for the school team or a discus cage. Well newsflash the school just e-mailed the wrong person. I am a supporter of Linux, OpenOffice and all things that are OpenSource. My school is a private school so I can understand slightly how they don't have a lot of money to be spending. But why in the world are they going out and upgrading the computers every year. I mean they buy Adobe everything. They get new computers like every year. We have many other students in my school that use OpenOffice at home. It also drives us insain how we have to save documents in MS office format. We cant just go to school with any format we want and use it. Also there computers at the school are so slowwwwww. We have people bringing there laptops from home and using them at school now. Im going to email the principle and tell him about OpenOffice. What should I say in this email? How can I be persuasive and prove that OpenOffice is worthy. So that he will have OpenOffice installed on the computers.How should I suggest to my principle to get Open-Office on school computers.?
Actually, your principal is only one of many ';puppets'; at your private school. If you want something such as Open Office. I suggest you go to the School Board and present your case there. They are the ones that really decide discuss and sign off on the documents such as new computers, new buildings, and new teachers. Also... since you already understand the shortage of money. It may still be a while before you receive Open Office. Deals have to negotiated. Licenses have to be purchased individually. But see the School Board first... my suggestion.





As for the comments for the new computers every year... Hmm where I use to work. We use to upgrade the computers about every 3 or 5 years. But, we have blocks on games, music, and videos to prevent the students from downloading that may contain a virus that makes the computer run slow. If your classmates are downloading from right to left that is definitely the cause of why the computer is running slow.





For being persuasive, just present your reasons for Open Office with good reasons and ideas. Make sure you have plenty of knowledge about the program too. The email has to be done professionally. Because documents that are done professionally tells the reader that he or she means business.





Oh and by the way.. You know that Open Office will slow down the computer even more right?How should I suggest to my principle to get Open-Office on school computers.?
The problem is incompatibility in opening documents. Although you are supposed to be able to open word docs in OO and vice versa, I find it doesn't always work. (I have both plus word perfect at work.) So they may go with Word just for that reason. It's also a matter of preparing you for what you will find in college and the work place and MS dominates - right or wrong. It's hard on instructors if they constantly have to switch programs to open documents.





I don't believe you about them constantly buying new computers because then they wouldn't be as slow as you claim, unless all the students are downloading and gaming all the time. Also, realize the more software they put on the computers, they slower they will be. So adding another suite of programs can slow them down even more.





The software they buy may be related to classes they teach or other uses they have. Realize that schools can get great discounts. I was once able to buy a full adobe package, priced normally at $1000 for $250. So they aren't paying what you think they are.





You can talk about saving money, but be prepared to address the compatibility issues and preparing students for the real world issues.