Towards Ending the Digital Divide: Free Office Applications
A major factor in the digital divide is the issue of cost. The October 2005 Census Bureau report shows that only 30% of those earning less than $25,000 a year have a computer with Internet access at home versus 80-90% above $50,000. One of the problems of computer integration has been the high cost of the most basic computer applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets. For computer integration to be effective this means that homes and public school systems must also buy the same applications and many families are more challenged than school systems to come up money to buy the hardware and software. The retail price of the dominant Microsoft Office suite of applications can cost $500 or more , which is more than a low cost computer. The open source community has a pair of options called OpenOffice and StarOffice that changes this price from free to $30 to $100 depending on how much direct telephone support is needed. This does not solve the problem of getting a low cost com...