On Jul 20, 8:31 am, Jason Grout <[email protected]> wrote:
> Rob Beezer wrote:
> > William Stein wrote:
>
> > * No license fees or budget hassles.
> > * Easy setup for a central notebook server.
> > * Rapid startup time to productive student use.
>
> I don't have any marketing ideas at the moment beyond what has already
> been mentioned. However, I do have to say that if there was a
> reasonably-priced, pre-configured sage notebook server box from Sun, it
> would be *very* tempting (emphasis on the "reasonably-priced" above,
> though :).
>
> Such a box would be very tempting if:
>
> * you could run multiple notebooks with proper security layers between
> themselves and the system.
> * it was trivial to upgrade all of the notebooks or just some of them.
> * you could also do development on some of the notebooks.
> * all (or at least most) optional spkgs worked
> * it would be easy for IT to administer the server centrally (e.g., a
> rack version, as well as a standalone box version)
>
> I've set up servers for various classes based on old boxes that were
> laying around. I've been asked to set up more servers, but didn't have
> the time to continue administering them and configuring them. In
> particular, since they were running on old computers, the computers kept
> breaking or burning out, and I couldn't deal with trying to reset up the
> environment.
>
> If there were a simple pre-configured box that one could buy, I'd be
> telling people that would like to have their own server. I'd definitely
> look into buying one at my university!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jason
All the ideas in this thread are great. In particular, Rob and Jason
hit the nail on the head with their comments about the server. Also,
- Do you have any customers in Education currently using Sun/Sage
open
source technology that could be referenced in these materials?
I think there are rather more of these than are currently active or
even subscribed to sage-support.
With regards to Sun specifically, it might also be pointed out that
eventually one could expect Sage workshops going on around the country
or online, similar to the various things Mma and Maple do, and leaders
of such workshops would presumably feel comfortable mentioning a)
sagenb.org and its support by Sun and b) a server such as Jason
described as ONE option among many other homegrown ones for
institutions. I don't think it would be appropriate for us to
advertise a specific solution, but based on discussions with other
people using Sage servers, setting one up in a straightforward manner
that does not require a lot of IT time is often the biggest stumbling
block to wider Sage use. This is because using many images is
tedious, and because IT might want to first be convinced that admin-
ing the server is worthwhile - at least I've heard this anecdotally.
We were lucky because our admin is also a faculty member who is
interested in open source solutions, but our ed IT department is very
reluctant to have anything to do with it.
This problem would potentially be much larger in the secondary ed
market, but I am not as sure Sage (in its current non-point-and-click
manifestation) has as large of a market there.
- kcrisman
PS This thread should perhaps also be cross-posted on sage-edu?
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