[mdlug] IBM plants Linux on the desktop

[Joseph C. Bender]

Jeff Hanson wrote:
> 
> The educational system is designed to mass produce functional staff so
> they stick with the software with the largest market share.  The
> instructors are products of the same system.  It would be a lot better
> if they taught word processing, not M$ Word.  The students can't think
> outside the box.  It's like a script vs. AI.
 >

	I would agree with you for the most part.  Some of us are working from 
the inside to change this.  Interestingly enough, it's not the 
districts, the corporations or the instructors that tend to want Office 
or Windows in the classrooms/labs.  It's the *parents*.  If they don't 
see that little Timmy or Sally is learning MS Office, they scream.  Oh 
boy, do they scream.  Things like "You're not preparing our children for 
the Real World!  Why are my tax dollars teaching them *products* they'll 
never use when they're in the workforce!"  While not quite verbatim, 
pilot OSS projects at districts have been met with similar comments.

	With even more state cuts coming, some school districts are looking 
very, very heavily at Open Source software to get the most life out of 
their hardware (in some cases, 7+ years of desktop life).  With Vista 
and the latest Office's rather insane systems requirements, OpenOffice 
and possibly Linux on the desktop (once XP patch support goes away) are 
looking really, really attractive.

	Not to say that we should be pushing for more school funding cuts to 
further Open Source, but my point was that there are motivators out 
there that are making OSS rather attractive to them at the moment, and 
now would be the time to lobby district committees and school boards to 
look into OSS to keep their IT operations afloat.




-- 
Joseph Bender
Bendorius Consulting
P: 248-434-5580
F: 248-434-5581
jcbender at bendorius com