> There's no reason to get all bent out of shape because Microsoft > software is being used in schools. There's a good argument for it to be > used, its what the children will also see in the workplace. I don't see > how using Linux will benefit anyone if they learn systems they most > likely aren't going to use in an office environment. If they wish to > pursue a technical career then get them their own comp that they can > install Linux themselves on, but for most schools Windows is just fine.
Its not about windows being just fine, its about the fact that schools are publicly funded, i.e yours and my taxes go to pay for this. They could have a better, more manageable system, for far less by going with a linux system. This means we dont waste an extra grand or so for each pc so that we can pay for ms office, ms windows etc etc, and in fact nearly double the amount of computers that can be purchased for the same price. Or use the money to provide an extra teacher. Think about it, a school with 600 kids, at 30 kids to a class is 20 teachers. Lets say we are buying 50pcs. Assume the MS software will be about �500 a pc (i dont know there current pricing but this is based on around 6 or 7 years ago). That is �25,000 in software alone. Replace that with an open source solution, at say, on mandrake pro suite boxed set (around �60 i believe). That is a saving of �24,940. Much more than the average yearly salary of a teacher, or, in the case of most school principles, the cost of a reasonable mercedes. If every school in the country did this (i guess around 10 million school kids, at 600 a school, is about 15,000 schools). If the average upgrade cycle is 5 years, that is a total national saving of �75,000,000 every year. Which if i remeber correctly, is about the same cost as running a large hospital. So the moral of this statistical estimatation exercise: Next time your child is put on a 2 year waiting list to get there tonsils out, which is a ten minute op, but a lot of pain when it isnt done, just think back to when you said 'windows is ok for schools'. Hope you've enjoyed this, im here all week. Tom -- Tom "Tomahawk" Badran Imperial College, Department of Computing ----------------------------------------- PGP Public @ certserver.pgp.com
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