On Mon, 2005-03-21 at 06:32, Jacqueline McNally wrote: > Adam Moore wrote: > > Well I'll tell you our ratio is one computer for every 4 to 5 > > students. But our tech support is cheap.... Well at least I don't > > think I get paid enough. :) Unfortunately they've added more > > computers and reduce the tech support. > > > it would be ok if the additional computers are using Linux and other > OSS. I have seen a TCO study that states that more Linux computers can > be supported by fewer techs. I just can't remember whether it was > referring to servers and or desktop machines.
The British Education Communication Technology Agency which is the advisory body funded at 24m (US $) per year to advise the government on education IT will, later this month, release a rigorously researched TCO survey carried out by independent academics. I have seen a "pre-view" version ;-) It says that the schools that have adopted Open Source have saved significant amounts of money compared to a Windows control group and that the savings are most significant in hardware and support costs and least important in software license costs. At least MS have it right that software licenses are a small part of the picture ;-) Unfortunately for them, the big part is less expensive with OOo and GNU/Linux too. As a result of this outcome (which I think surprised BECTA) they are fairly desperate to catch up and we have had a meeting with them through SchoolforgeUK where I represent the OOo Community. SchoolforgeUK now has Sun, HP and Redhat as supporters plus a number of smaller companies with an interest in the schools market. We have another meeting with BECTA on the 14th April (which is unfortunately the day I fly to Australia so I can only be there in the morning) Here is the Agenda/aims. To identify what needs to be done to bring Open Source software into the wider education sector To identify what the Open Source community might do to support adoption of Open Source software To discuss the role of the commercial sector and market forces in relation to Open Source and the range of potential government interventions To discuss how the Open Source philosophy might be adopted to support improvements in educational content and learning platforms. This is a significant break through because it is effectively the government being proactive for the first time. -- Ian Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ZMS Ltd --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
