Should students be given free software for school?

[j0frenzy]

I don't know. On the one hand, it would be nice. On the other, everyone else has to pay for the supplies for their education. Art students aren't given their materials by the university. Everyone has to pay for textbooks. I guess in an ideal world, everyone should get what they need to be educated in the field they want.

 

[Alfador_VII]

If you absolutely require it for your course, then definitely free.

If it's merely helpful, then the large student discounts which are generally available should suffice.

 

[Amondren]

Discounts yes free=no.

 

[manythings]

Well who is dealing with the "free" component? Either the companies in question and making them available to the colleges (or whatever) or the colleges are buying it and handing them out.

I would say this would never happen because no one would trust the students to not just put it up as a torrent and free programs for all. That would really lead to severe problems for colleges who would be held responsible for the actions of the few who would do that to "Stick it to the man" and ruin a lot of scholarship programs and the like.

If they need it and can't work in the college? I dunno about free but heavily discounted programs would be a good idea. People rarely value free things but if you part with money your more likely to treat it with care and responsibility.

If you can find a program that is used in education that isn't already a torrent then sure, that would make sense. However I very much doubt you could find a useful program that has never been pirated, and once it is out there it is out for good. Students releasing it too would make no difference.

I say yes, why not give students programs for free? It's not like it costs the company anything to do so, and will probably lead to them wanting to use (and therefore pay for) the program in the future. I was given Visual Studio for free because I needed it for my course. Where is the downside?

The companies aren't saying "oh well, it's already been pirated". There will be legal issues if students get it as part of a program and then college resources to hand it out.

 

[Speakercone]

http://www.gimp.org/
http://www.openoffice.org/

There, 99% of you are set.

A thousand times this. Not sure about the rest of the world, but here in the UK, convincing anyone to use anything other than Photoshop and MS Office is an uphill battle. Unfortunately this isn't going to be feasible here for a good while.

OT: Students at all ages should be given those tools required for them to learn and train most effectively. This absolutely includes software.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well I got a copy of Photoshop through my University, and it's what made me start doing Avatars here

If you need it for your studies then yes. In university especially most of your work is done in your own time and if you don't have the tools then you can be at a MAJOR disadvantage. I couldn't have done my final project without the software and laptop my university gave me.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well, 3DS Max, students can already get free with a student license on the Autodesk site.
But the other, I think so. We should get them for free. Then we wouldn't need to use questionable means to acquire them.

Wait what? Why didn't this happen sooner when I was at uni (I took a course were we used that software most of the time).

I kind of agree that the software should be free but I know that the company would make a lost from the deal. I suppose the student free software should have a limited lifespan meaning once the student had graduated they should either paid a discound fee to continue using it or remove it from their pc (the sorfware stop working once the student had graduated).

 

[DEAD34345]

The companies aren't saying "oh well, it's already been pirated". There will be legal issues if students get it as part of a program and then college resources to hand it out.

I doubt it, there are tons of programs like this to give out free software where I am from, and I have never once heard of anyone getting in any kind of trouble for releasing it on the net. In fact how often are the people who crack software caught anyway? Apart from the odd person made an example of, these people are almost never caught. Even if they were caught I seriously doubt that the college / highschool / whatever would get in any kind of trouble for it.

Besides which, when we're talking about software that is needed for education anyway, why would they be less likely to release it on the net if they had to pay for it? I'd say that piracy is encouraged much more by not giving the program away for free, as that would force students who could not (or will not) pay for it to pirate it instead.

 

[SinisterGehe]

It is fun to live in a country in which school is free and all the mandatory items for studying are provided by the school or by the government's agency. It is in the law :, everyone must be able to attend to the line of education they have selected in the official application. All materials required as a mandatory part of the line of education is to be provided to the student. Because here in Finland, everyone is equal no matter what your financial status is. Lovely isn't it, no wonder we are topping the worlds scoreboard with our school system.

 

[AndrewC]

I wouldn't say free, but an extreme discout yes.

A bit like what Microsoft did with Windows 7.

Students got it for £30

 

[Samwise137]

While, as a teacher, I'd never recommend some of the programs mentioned above (at risk of starting a flame-war, I won't be specific), I can say that it would be awesome if Adobe provided at least education editions of their software to students. I hate having to teach video editing in iMovie because it's all we can afford. Autodesk DOES do this and therefore my students can get Maya but it leaves an annoying watermark over the final outputs and almost renders the software inoperable too. Yes, I definitely think some subsidizing is in order.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Smacks of entitlement to me. Students don't deserve free programs, but there's nothing wrong with schools using that as bait to get quality students in their doors.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I. Fucking. Hate. Open Office.

*shudder*

 

[joshthor]

3ds max you can get a 6 month free trial that you can constantly renew. so. its fine. photoshop needs a better student version (longer lasting anyway), microsoft gives ALOT of software (unlimited copies of windows, office, programming suites, ect) to our school (at least computer science majors)

i think that software is generally fine. however, i think if you want mass adaptation and you wanna keep your lead, you should give your software freely so they can learn, adapt to your product and stay away from the competition.

 

[Griffolion]

Free, maybe a little far, the companies need to get paid for what they do. Highly discounted? Why not.

I think Adobe are the best example, 80% off the Master Collection with an education license. Couple in the fact your uni could contribute to price and you've suddenly got a comprehensive creative suite that will last you literally years that's affordable.

Autodesk 3DS Max is totally free with a student license, but only for four years which I find disheartening. They should do the same as Adobe.

Microsoft also do Windows 7 Professional for £50 if you have an educational institution e-mail address (.ac.uk for UK) which is pretty good.