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<TITLE>RE: [plug] suggestion: PLUG 4 Schools</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Hi all</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Your discussion of using linux in schools is really interesting and worthwhile but these are some things about the culture in schools and the Department that you will need to take into account;</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>schools are being encouraged to conform to a standard operating environment to enable consistency of support and to enable implementation of system wide finance/curriculum programs</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Schools have the need for curriculum software which in many cases only exist in the dos/mac world</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>school networks are run on small budgets and usually small maintanence ie the coordinators are overworked.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>plus a range of other issues to long to discuss here.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>If you are looking at implementing a strategy it will need to be very focussed and be able to take the needs of schools and the Department's goals.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Good luck</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Stephen</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Joondalup DEP</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: Denis Brown [<A HREF="mailto:dsbrown@cyllene.uwa.edu.au">mailto:dsbrown@cyllene.uwa.edu.au</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 1:06 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: plug@plug.linux.org.au</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: Re: [plug] suggestion: PLUG 4 Schools</FONT>
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<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>At 11:27 6/05/2002 +0800, Sol wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>>"Our greatest resource is our local user group. We need to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>>help schools and LUGs around the country make connections. Towards this</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>>---some snipping ---</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>>Why doesn't PLUG make a public offer to metropolitan schools (say the first</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>>one to sign an agreement with PLUG) to have PLUG members migrate their school</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>>over to Linux servers and workstations and offer supplementary assistance in</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>--- some more snipping ---</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>I imagine this is more realistic in the USA where I assume there are </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>significantly more active PLUG-like associations both inter- and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>intra-state. Colin's already commented on the potential magnitude of such </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>an undertaking in response to Sol's suggestion. Perhaps a viable place to </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>start might be to establish a working demo, ideally a portable one, which </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>could then be demo'd to interested parties? The demo's would then be </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>possible at a normal PLUG venue with 'net access such as UWA or Murdoch, or </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>could be set up in a "target" school's environment. We are talking </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>something akin to the K12LTSP aren't we, with a server and X-capable </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>workstations? So PLUGgers show up with three+ laptops, one a server and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the others set up as workstations. Apart from security, reliability, etc </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the emphasis would probably be on the ability to use existing </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>resource-impoverished hardware at the client end.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>If we're thinking in terms of utilising the grunt already in the desktops, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>and there seems to be no shortage of that these days, then just have the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>demo set up again as client-server but emphasising security, reliability, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>administrative control and so forth. Indeed if that's the case maybe each </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>"client" laptop could default to a different desktop environment (and of </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>course be preloaded with all those to be demo'ed.) Demo-ee says "ooh, I </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>like that one", demo-er kills the "disliked" desktop environments and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>launches the "liked" environment and hey presto.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Once seen to be "do-able" and having commercial backup, maybe the fear of </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>being left in limbo when / if something goes wrong would be </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>reduced. OpenOffice is going to have a lot to do with acceptability, I </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>think, regardless of the other worthy open source projects in the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>productivity realm (eg AbiWord). I am keen to begin using OO here for </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>example, initially in a Windows environment because too much change is seen </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>to be scary. Well, maybe that's just my environment :-)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>My 2c,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Denis</FONT>
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