[plug] Go Washington! Go Oregon! Go Maine!

[Leon Brooks]

Read these!

    http://archives.seul.org/seul/edu/May-2002/msg00129.html (and the link)

    http://archives.seul.org/seul/edu/May-2002/msg00152.html

    http://archives.seul.org/seul/edu/May-2002/msg00129.html

Notable quotes:

    `No one was talking about using software without paying for it. It's just
    that when they came face to face with the power an EULA gives MS, they saw
    things in a different light. MS software in schools was seen as a
    logistical and financial liability when compared with GPL licensed
    alternatives.'

    `The Portland Public School switchboard was jammed for two days with calls
    from Linux users volunteering to come to PDX from all over the west coast
    to help with software migration.'

FULL TEXTS

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From: Paul Nelson <pnelson at riverdale.k12.or.us> [ie Riverdale School]
Date: 03 May 2002 10:27:13 -0700

Hello Folks,

It's been a week since Eric and I went up to the ACPE conference. We
spoke with tech coordinators from 25 large Oregon and Washington school
districts being audited by Microsoft for software licensing compliance.
It's time for an update and some reflection.

All of the districts received a letter from Microsoft demanding a
software audit. Steve Duin, a Portland columnist wrote about it in his
column. 
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/all_wire_stories/101386428029222529.xml
(long url, you may need to paste it together...)

Before Steve's column schools were calling MS and asking for extensions.
They reported that MS was less than friendly and responsive. AFTER the
column several things happened.

The Portland Public School switchboard was jammed for two days with
calls from Linux users volunteering to come to PDX from all over the
west coast to help with software migration. 

MS was hit with many angry calls from all over the place. I can only
imagine the content of those conversations. Having Duin's column posted
on Slashdot.org certainly helped get the word out about what MS was
doing.

The Slashdot post came out on Monday. Later that week most of the
technology folks from OR and WA were heading to a conference on Thursday
and Friday. MS agreed to come and present a special session on the audit
and MS licensing on Thursday afternoon. Many of the impacted schools met
the night before. There was much solidarity and a realization that if
they all stuck together they would have more clout when dealing with MS.
There was also a common understanding that this audit would cost
districts money and time. Two things in short supply these days.
Portland Public schools will devote two FTE to the audit. That's over
$100k of money that could go to classrooms and teachers. Needless to say
the relationship between these schools and Microsoft had been changed in
a fundamental way. No one was talking about using software without
paying for it. It's just that when they came face to face with the power
an EULA gives MS, they saw things in a different light. MS software in
schools was seen as a logistical and financial liability when compared
with GPL licensed alternatives.

Now we get to alternatives. There was actually discussion of mass
migrations to Linux. The interesting thing is that with current desktops
and K12LTSP, it really is an option now. If MS was not willing to flex
on demands, several of districts were ready to dump MS software.

On Thursday MS came in with a team to do some damage control. I've never
seen anyone more worried or concerned. Quoting, "We never had any idea
that there would be a reaction like this. Our two words for today are
friendly and flexible." And they were... They said a lot about
understanding the hardships schools face and how we were hurting for
funding. They let us know that the audits were meant to be helpful and
that this was not a BSA audit (yet...). They said that they would meet
with schools one on one to extend deadlines and be flexible. I have to
admit that they were just as they promised to be, friendly and flexible.
They did a great job of disarming the most worried school folks and then
hosted an open bar for the rest of the afternoon.

I underestimated the ability of MS to react so well and do such a good
job. The most effective motivation for change is pain. MS did EVERYTHING
they could that day to make sure we would not feel any pain. ;-^)

Friday morning Eric and I did a session on using GPL software in
schools. Eric did a good job on covering what's going on with the server
end of things and I did a demonstration with our Linux Toaster. We like
to stress that in many ways, software is now generic. You don't need to
license or even worry about what kind of toaster oven you have at home.
The same thing should be true of your word processor and email client.

I was still disturbed about the MS show we saw on Thursday until we
started hearing more and more questions about migration. It seems like
schools were taking the extra time given them by MS and using it to good
advantage. We spent ALL of the Q&A time on migration paths to free
software. Eric comes from the business world. I'm an educator. He
pointed out to me that the WORST thing that could have come from all of
this was a forced, overnight migration to Linux. Having time to do it
right is much better. We've been talking with folks now for a couple of
weeks and there is a lot happening.

I can't share everything that is in the works right now but there are
two areas where we need to focus our efforts for schools in terms of
migration:

1. Support and training...  They need someone to call for help and they
ALL need training. This is the #1 issue keeping schools from using free
software. They just don't know how to do it and keep it running in a
production environment. Anything we do to promote training will result
in an increased use of Linux in schools. The good news in this area is
that we've moved beyond the awareness level in many schools. 

The bottom line is that schools see others using Linux and saving money
while providing superior service to classrooms. They want to go in that
direction but they just don't know how.

2. End user, ease of use issues... The #2 fear facing schools is the
thought that teachers will not be able to use the software. No one is
worried about the kids. Eric is now working on a classroom kiosk version
of K12Linux. We're hoping to produce a simplistic desktop with few
options and just a few icons for basic applications. There are a bunch
of desktop improvements that are part of RH 7.3. The Linux desktop is
really coming along. Teachers however equate choices with complexity and
that is something to fear. We think a classroom kiosk using KDE is
something that might be useful in these instances.

More good news... I'm starting to hear from more major vendors who have
been getting requests for Linux in school solutions. We're getting
quotes from Micron, Dell and IBM for the 65 K12LTSP workstations we're
about to purchase for a new high school. Before we had to build
everything ourselves.

More to do...  Our greatest resource is our local user group. We need to
help schools and LUGs around the country make connections. Towards this
end we're going to start promoting a July 4th. software freedom day.
Sponsored by LUGs all over America, this event will bring together
Unix/Linux experts and schools to establish local support connections
for training and migration to GPL software.

I'll send out more on the software freedom day later. I hope you'll help
get your LUGs and schools together.

;-) Paul

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From: "David Trask" <dtrask at vcs.u52.k12.me.us> [Vassalboro Community School]
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 14:17:38 -0400 (EDT)

k12osn at redhat.com writes:
>Hello Folks,
>
> It's been a week since Eric and I went up to the ACPE conference.
> We spoke with tech coordinators from 25 large Oregon and Washington
> school districts being audited by Microsoft for software

Wow!  Paul and Eric...you guys ROCK!  I'm on the East Coast (Maine)
and some of us have also recieved the letters...and we only got 30
days....upon calling we also got the same angry reaction from M$.
And to think that at one time I used to be a dyed in the wool
Windows fan and a genuine Mac hater.  Now I happen to like the new
Mac OS X (I'm even going to buy an iBook....GASP!)  And I am
thoroughly fed up with M$.  Licensing schemes....activation
fiascos...and so forth....ENOUGH!   We starting adopting StarOffice
earlier this year (on the Windows platform) and the kids thought it
was cool....thay all wanted copies for home.  The new version will
be even more like M$ Office.  OpenOffice is also nice, although
packaged clip art and stuff would make it more enjoyable.
Nonetheless....we'll be moving in a definite Linux direction with
K12LTSP rolling out this fall.  I'm psyched.

As many of you know....Maine is giving (the state will still own
them) the schools laptops for all 7th and 8th grade students
beginning this fall.  They will be iBooks running OS X (Apple won
the bid).....   Yesterday all the Tech Coordinators from all over
the state converged for a meeting with the Maine Learning Technology
Initiative folks.  The biggest thing that seemed to come through was
a tremendous amount of fear among those folks running proprietary
network software (in particular...Novell) and how they'll be able to
integrate the iBooks.  OS X is simply Unix with a cool GUI.  The
nice thing in my case and the case of a few others here in Maine is
that those of us who broke free from the bonds of proprietary server
OS's and went with Linux (I'm running E-smith/Mitel and RedHat
servers) are finding any and all migration and integration to be a
no-brainer.

Simply put...long live Linux!  And thanks guys for all you do!

David N. Trask

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From: "Kevin Stiles" <kstiles at pasco.wednet.edu> [Paso School District]
Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 14:59:46 -0700

I also was at this conference and saw/heard the same things and interpreted 
them the same.  My take on the outcome AFTER the Microsoft panel is also 
the same.  Microsoft finally realize that there were lines even they could 
not step over with retaliation.

A couple of good things should come from this.

First, Microsoft got its hands slapped by its very bread and butter.  They 
were informed that they had stepped too far and society was not going to 
stand for it.  Bear in mind, like Paul said, no one was in favor of 
pirating or using illegal software.  But in an open environment as Schools, 
who can really regulate everything?  In our district we have God control 
over our machines and dictate all hardware and network decisions, but even 
then have had to give some leeway on software installs for political 
issues.  If Microsoft works WITH not against its clientele, there may 
actually be progress towards decreasing piracy.

Second, awareness is out about the ramifications of illegal software and 
its impact on schools.  This should push Administrators towards policies 
forcing legal software use.  Of course legal software costs money, unless 
its Open Source :-)

Third, much talk was made about alternatives.  This talk will continue and 
spread as more districts/schools attempt to be more legal and avoid future 
confrontations with Microsoft.  As more adopt Open Source and alternative 
software, more commercial companies will get involved and provide 
alternatives to Microsoft platforms.

Of course all of us already know that or we would not be on this mailing 
list.

This may be the final straw that pushed to evaluate their stance, to think 
that Microsoft may have just slit their throat, and in their own 
backyard.  Of course it was humourus watching the Microsoft reps. kissing 
up by keeping the hosted bar open for hours after its scheduled 
shutdown.  As if we will forget that quick....

Kevin Stiles
Technology Department
Paso School District

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Cheers; Leon