On 26 Jul 2004 at 12:18, Hamish McBrearty wrote: > Hmm, I think maybe it's time I weighed in here. > > Licensing costs for schools is a huge issue, but unfortunately threre are > other issues which are also have to be taken into account. > snip...
I have to agree with Hamish. I am one of the parent volunteers who run the network at the school that my kids go to. Although we (from the start) put in linux servers and firewalls etc (and have been really happy with the results overall) we do have to use Win9x/XP on workstations because of the software choices that have been made throughout by the teaching users. It is not always that there is not an alternative linux app - but sometimes just the difficulty of matching up with the teachers understanding and/or expectations or other resources they plan to use in their classes. On the up side - the combination of Linux servers and the MS deal for workstation software has been an excellent way of controlling some of the licencing cost issues that schools have to face - although perhaps that was not MS's intent? However - I do like the thought of Firefox with an IE skin and I may even attempt the same approach ... excellent idea :-) Richard Smart
