European Parliament to buy iPads for every member

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

How on earth is Word 2003 outdated? Ok from the perspective of it has been superseded by 2007, ok I agree, but Word 2003 (and all of Office 2003) is still a very functional and capable office suite.

That was what I was thinking! Compared to word processing on a PC with Word 2003 the using the iPad for word would seem more like using a clay tablet.

But K-Thom is right, perhaps their iPad's can keep them busy and have them refrain from actual decisions. That would be a win-win.

[Jaime_Astorga]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

How on earth is Word 2003 outdated? Ok from the perspective of it has been superseded by 2007, ok I agree, but Word 2003 (and all of Office 2003) is still a very functional and capable office suite.

Seconded. It bugs me when people feel the need to have "the latest and greatest" when more modest offerings are perfectly adequate to their needs. It's like when people spaz out about school kids using 30 year old algebra textbooks, even though elementary algebra has remained the same for centuries. It just fuels needless spending.

[beachwanderer]

Ah, this is real fun ...

As far as I can see this story is related mostly in forums and on news-sites which are apple/mac/ipad-centric. The only source given (if any at all) is the Times Article mentioned in the first posting here.

Meanwhile at the EU-Parliament itself (The Committee on Budgets, 24/4/2010):

ICT strategy: Members welcome the more structured approach to ICT and also reiterate their support for a sufficient internalisation of functions to reduce the dependence on external providers. They also call for a clarification of the precise purpose of the EUR 5 million earmarked for a Members' IT mobility project given the relatively high amount in question. (Marking by me.)

Quote from over here.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

How on earth is Word 2003 outdated? Ok from the perspective of it has been superseded by 2007, ok I agree, but Word 2003 (and all of Office 2003) is still a very functional and capable office suite.

So? It's not supporting the latest formats, blah blah.

...

Oh hey, Open Office supports open formats and is free. Well, wasn't that an easy solution to out-dating!