I vote for exploration of beneficial online tools

how about making it about technology in support of teaching and learning....

I say a combination of both...students need to see that "Office" is used most often, however, show them the alternatives and let them choose

Office=ugh! Although the underlying skills for information processing, organization and display are important as long as they are taught

in a way that enables transference of those skills to another product of similar nature.

Tools for sure!

my favorite middle school computer class would be something like EAST

student driven service projects, where they learn to use tools appropriate for their selected projects.