Any thoughts on Tutor.com's policy of "MS Word only"?

users
#1

Hello,

I'm thinking of applying for an online tutoring position at Tutor.com.
However, they require that tutors (and applicants, for the mock tutoring
session) have Microsoft Word (2007 or later) itself -- they specifically
say that OpenOffice is not acceptable. I'd rather not spend $110 just to
get MS Word (or $140 for MS Office, or $10/month or $100/year to rent MS
Office) for this specific job, when OpenOffice/LibreOffice has worked just
fine for me for the past decade.

Does anyone here have any relevant experience (eg, does Tutor.com in
practice allow OpenOffice/LibreOffice, is it absolutely necessary to get MS
Word, do you know of similar online tutoring services that allow
OpenOffice/LibreOffice, etc)?

Thank you in advance!

Jeff Deutsch
Speaker & Life Coach
A SPLINT - ASPies LInking with NTs
http://www.asplint.com

"Listen to the universe while it whispers before it has to shout."
Marion Grobb Finkelstein, Communication Catalyst --
http://www.MarionSpeaks.com

#2

Jeff,

Either they do not know a number of applications can handle the vast majority of MS Word documents, not just LO. I have at least four applications (all available at no cost some FOSS and some proprietary) on my Linux box that can read/write MS Word documents plus Google Docs. Or they use VBA macros which is a very, very, very, very serious security risk/stupidity. If they are requiring running VBA macros, I would seriously question their competence and/or ethics for risking anyone's computer. My experience is that many VBA macros can be replaced by a template with user entry fields.

The normal security rule is never allow a foreign (one you have not reviewed/written) VBA macro to run on your computer because they have been a notorious attack vector in the past. The problem is there is often no indication in the file extension a macro is present that could run automatically when the file is opened. I would generalize this to never allow any foreign macro to run on your computer.

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
They have probably had to deal with a lot of grumbles from people using LO
or AOO who have trouble with documents created in MSO where MSO has used
their newer formats (about 4 or more different versions of docX, xlsX, pptX
etc).

So, it's all back-fired a bit! The aim was to push the college to switch
formats that everyone could use on any platform.

Perhaps write to them to complain?

Point out exactly what you just said, that you don't see why you should pay
upwards of $110 to some 3rd party organisation! I'd be tempted to request
they give a free copy of MSO! You already have software that does all the
same things and don't see why you should spend more money just in order to
keep doing the same things that you can already do for free. Maybe get
really rude and ask if they get a commission on the number of students
forced into buying something that they don't need.

I don't know if i would point out the security risk of running such ancient
software as MSO 2007 as that might backfire too. As might the recent
problem with opening any Rtf file in MSO. Macros have repeatedly been such
a huge problem over the years that it's resulted in MSO popping up a
security warning when trying to run any macro. That might be worth
pointing out.

So, the college is putting students at risk and demanding they spend money
to do so, when there are perfectly usable (and free) alternatives.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

What's the problem with opening RTF files in MSO? Just curious because I do it all the time.

Virgil

#5

Hi :slight_smile:
Ouch! A bit of a knee-jerk reaction again! I'm obviously quite tense
today!

Maybe take advantage of the fact they specified OpenOffice and didn't
mention LibreOffice at all. Keep using LibreOffice? That way you are not
exactly breaking their ruling just bending it a bit.

If you get a file that is clearly a bit messed up, from a tutor, ask them
which version of MSO they are using because your version doesn't seem to
read it properly (omitting to say your version is not actually MSO). Ask
them to
File - "Save As ..."
to send in the older format that everyone CAN read. If they press you on
which version you are using obfuscate and say that you've heard all the
different versions have problems with that particular file. Chances are
that they do anyway but it'd be nice to check in the library or somewhere
if possible just to be certain.

If the file was from a student then do about the same but maybe consider
telling them to use LibreOffice or anything else so that their files can be
used by anyone. But students can be annoyingly naive so take care with
such suggestions in case that back-fires too.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#6

My apologies for this sentence. For some unknown reason, I received
from the list manager the message above from Tom only 10 minutes ago,
so I thought it had been written after my first email in this
thread. Now I have looked at the whole thread again, and realized he
had sent both messages almost back to back, both before my first
reply.

Marco

#7

nothing personal, of course, but this whole line of thought and
suggestions seems more and more pointless as the thread continues.
This would be evident to anybody who had taken the time to check the
tutoring FAQ as I did yesterday and/or to search online for "tutor.com
classroom software" as I did now, thus finding, among others, this
thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1485597

and this technical description
http://www.russellgreenspan.com/software/The_Tutor.com_Classroom.pdf

which both confirm my initial hypothesis, that there must be little or
nothing "Save as" in "independent" office suites in that scenario,
because a tutor.com classroom is something that totally happens inside
THEIR software, which relies on 30 pages of Microsoft-specific
technologies to integrate everything tightly.

My own feeling (since yesterday, and the other links I found today
confirm it) is that the support for this or that file format, or
macros, in and by itself counts almost nothing, as in "you may very
well do or create homework in OpenOffice, as long as you eventually
copy and paste everything in MS Office, because that is the ONLY way
to pass it back and forth student and tutor that can be handled
(=monitored for quality control and billing) by the "Tutor.com
classroom software".

    Marco

#8

First, if you opt to go this route, be prepared to spend the money to buy the software.

Hello,

I'm thinking of applying for an online tutoring position at Tutor.com.
However, they require that tutors (and applicants, for the mock tutoring
session) have Microsoft Word (2007 or later) itself -- they specifically
say that OpenOffice is not acceptable. I'd rather not spend $110 just to
get MS Word (or $140 for MS Office, or $10/month or $100/year to rent MS
Office) for this specific job, when OpenOffice/LibreOffice has worked just
fine for me for the past decade.

Does anyone here have any relevant experience (eg, does Tutor.com in
practice allow OpenOffice/LibreOffice, is it absolutely necessary to get MS
Word, do you know of similar online tutoring services that allow
OpenOffice/LibreOffice, etc)?

So you are wondering if anyone knows why they request this? Likely not here, but, I can say that even between different versions of MSO you may have different behavior and rendering of documents. If they provide macros, they will not likely work in AOO or LO correctly. If they have complicated documents, that could be a problem in slight things. I notice, for example, slight differences in rendering between LO/AOO and MSO with respect to tables and their exact size on the page.

You can always take the position, and, when you have a problematic document, drop the money.

#9

Hi :slight_smile:
The courses seem to be entirely about MS products and their own languages
and stuff like silverlight. They even seem to expect you to use Internet
Explorer.

There are Open Source and other alternatives to almost everything they want
to teach you. Do you really need to engage with those people and go back
into the MS lock-in?
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#10

This is the ongoing struggle that we have in teaching computer technology. I teach a technology class for paralegal students. My students want and need to learn the technology that they will actually use in their careers. In my professional and geographic areas, that unfortunately remains MSO, so, that's what I teach them in my class. It would do my students no good to teach them how to use LO when no legal office I'm aware of uses it for their work.

I focus a lot of my office suite teaching to the teaching of styles. I teach from MSO, but since all decent word processors use styles, I allow my students to use any program they want for their work, as long as it supports styles.

I do teach my students that there are alternatives. Although my textbook doesn't mention open source software, I have a small section on it. I also have them do a project comparing and contrasting the relative virtues of Windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu Linux. I figure I'll at least expose them to the "free as in freedom" world even if they never use it at work.

All that said, I do allow my students to use any OS or office suite they like. I have had Mac users, and LO and AOO users.

Virgil

#11

​Bravo, Virgil ! Your experience mirrors the fact that Microsoft has been
extremely successful in establishing a quasi-monopoly with regard to office
packages. By making your students aware of the fact that there do exist
alternatives to MSO and comparing their advantages and disadvantages, you
are helping to breach the walls. We can only hope that more and more
instructors and teachers will follow your example and that will help to
lead to better competition which benefits all users !

Henri

#12

Hi :slight_smile:
Yeh, going back to the original post i realised the question was about
becoming a tutor rather than becoming a student.

So, it's still a case of having to use all-MS systems but we all have to
earn money somehow. At least if it's someone fairly honourably and aware
of alternatives then it opens up opportunities to get the word out there,
even if it's not as much as you'd like.

I think top marks to Virgil. I'm glad i'm not currently struggling with
this dilemma in my own life.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: