[plug] Schools [taken] out today?

[Anthony Jones]

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> I think I'm only one of a handful of fulltime non-teaching staff IT
> administrators working in a school. In most schools, IT is handled 
part-time by
> one teacher that volunteered his services, or by an external contracting
> company. This is part of the 'why is there no Linux here' problem too - is a
> teacher going to sit down and learn a new operating system (in his own 
time), or
> is he more likely to go out and buy a server, and say, "Windows server looks
> fairly easy - it looks like normal Windows" and go from there?

The issue I see is that businesses like supporting Windoze because Windoze 
takes a hell of a lot more supporting. Linux takes more learning but 
significantly less support.

> I dislike Microsoft's business practices, and I think Microsoft should be
> _paying_ schools to use Microsoft software (or at least giving them free
> licenses), since we are teaching generations of students how to use 
Microsoft
> software. The hardest thing to ignore is the market dominance Microsoft
> _already_ has. Students, staff, and parents are already used to using 
Microsoft
> Office and microsoft operating systems. It will be one of the most difficult
> things to convince people of - computer != Microsoft. I believe that Windows
> isn't the main driving force behind Microsoft's dominance, it's *office*.

My girlfriend's father is a teacher in New Zealand. His school is still using 
Windoze but they teach with StarOffice because of the lower lisencing costs. 
Changing to OpenOffice would clearly be the first step in lowering the 
schools lisencing costs (and liberating it from corporate control). I haven't 
used OpenOffice enough to know how it compares to Word but I have used Word 
recently and I can say that it's one of the crappiest pieces of software I 
have used for years.

> Students especially are so used to the Windows architecture that many of our
> Macintosh PCs in the same lab are used last or ignored. I've heard at least 
once
> when a class is entering a computer lab, the kids dive for the PCs, and the
> machines that are left are the Macs even though they are just as 'good' as 
the
> PCs in the room. "Ha ha, you got stuck with a Mac!".

Macs can be liberated. I've run Yellow Dog Linux on an iMac. It worked very 
well. I take it from your comment that if all the boxes in your school were 
liberated then you would meet with some reistence from the students?

The natural way to Linuxify a school would be to make it a community effort. 
Has anyone tried getting the students involved in actually setting up and 
administering the computer systems? Perhaps given access to the right 
resources some students may enjoy learning about how to set up a Linux 
network from scratch.

I don't believe that the Mac or Windoze are easier to use than Linux (that is 
use, not install). My girlfriend has no trouble using Linux - she has never 
used Windoze or Mac. I would like to think that Linux boxes would happily 
suit the needs of students. I guess it depends on what is being taught.

The other advantage of using Linux, Mozilla, OpenOffice, etc. is that 
students can use the same applications at home free of charge. Using Windoze 
at school is actually discriminatory against poor people.

I've been having a really bad hate M$ week. Grr.. hate... hate... Not only 
are M$ evil but their products are rubbish. Nestle are evil (so I'm told) but 
at least milky bars taste nice.  MMmmmm... milky bars... yummy...

Anthony


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