Hey Forest! In terms of stakeholders, I would agree with your point that students and teachers (in that order) are key stakeholders. Administrators such as superintendents have much of the decision-making authority, however, so my goal has been to get their attention on the cost savings and then promote the idea that FOSS gives our students the tools that business, and the rest of the world are using - FOSS is better, more secure, and connects our students to an important international conversation.
As web 2.0 apps mature such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets, schools should be aware of the potential of abandoning OpenOffice or Office altogether and moving to free web applications. All they will need is a secure workstation, and a web browser - LTSP in Ubuntu makes this easy to achieve. Requisite bandwidth for Vermont schools is another matter. At any rate, I jumped in the other night to help form an Ubuntu loco not so much because I am a diehard user of Ubuntu, but because I believe it has reached a point where its ease of use makes it an attractive option for schools. I am also continually surprised that Vermont, a state that prides itself on being on the forefront of most social issues, has not taken up the open document cause. I intend to pressure and educate policy makers about the advantages of FOSS/Linux in schools. Through my accidental involvement with the Ubuntu Vermont loco, I got hooked up with VAGUE so Ubuntu can't be that bad. Dan French On Thu, 2007-08-02 at 21:55 -0400, Forest Bond wrote: > Hi Dan! > > For the list's sake: > > Dan worked for the Colebrook, NH school system before going on to be the > superintendent in Canaan, VT. I received my entire pre-college education in > Colebrook, where my father is a high school math teacher. My mother is > currently teaching science at the Canaan high school. So, I'm hoping Dan > might > remember me. ;) > > While at Canaan, my mother was a subject for the somewhat experimental Linux > laptop program. Needless to say, I was pretty delighted to see that program > in > place. > > Actually, I help her get that laptop set up with Internet access at home-- > Ubuntu was, sadly, lacking Network Manager at the time. Pre-Network Manager > wireless was not an impressive situation, in terms of usability. > > Getting on with things... > > On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 07:37:20PM +0000, Dan French wrote: > > I am concerned Vermont schools are about to make a poor choice in investing > > in > > Vista. I have been working to promote FOSS/Linux to Vermont superintendents > > and Vermont schools. To that end, I would appreciate your advice on how to > > promote the use of Linux in our schools. > > First off: > > Whether Vermont schools move to Linux or not, Vista is a travesty that I > wouldn't wish on any organization that has to get any real work done. Perhaps > when it matures a bit more and gains some stability, it will be more > appropriate. > > Unfortunately, Vista being bad doesn't make the advantages offered by > alternatives immediately obvious. > > It seems to me that it's probably not terribly difficult to convince school > administrators of the economic benefits of open-source software. (Certainly, > using FOSS must appear to be a better option than being rendered irrelevant by > cost-motivated administrative consolidation). The real trick, then, is in > convincing the relevant stake-holders that cost is not the only motivator. > > The most relevant stake-holders are the faulty and the students, not the > administration. Understandably, these folks can be somewhat opposed to the > idea > of using what appear to be sub-par equivalents of the software they've grown > used to for no other reason than to help administration cut costs. > > In other words, you can't be successful if faculty can't answer the question > "Why > is open-source software better in the classroom?" > > How can we make teachers & students be inspired by open-source software, > rather > than feeling that they are being burdened "for the greater good"? > > One way to encourage the adoption of open-source software is to *not* install > open-source software. Or, more accurately, don't install it when it is not > going to be successful. > > One place open source is often unsuccessful is with business folks. These > people absolutely adore MSFT office, and there isn't a geek on the planet > that's > going to talk them down from it. > > Sure, I've heard the argument: "How can we teach kids real world skills using > [alternative office product here], when they'll be using MSFT office in the > real > world?" That's a pile of bologna and we all know it. Even they know it. > MSFT > makes so many user interface changes between releases that nobody can really > get > away with saying that the interface differences between MSFT office & > OpenOffice.org is really that much of a factor. > > A point we might consider briefly: OpenOffice.org just plain isn't as good as > MSFT office. Period. It's a cheap rip-off, and it looks the part, too. That > doesn't mean it's worthless, it just means that you're not fooling anyone. > > So, why not handle these special cases with special solutions? How about MSFT > office under Wine, even if it means using CrossOver Office? A few well-chosen > compromises might be helpful. And in a few years, OpenOffice.org will have > caught up with more features, OSS will have penetrated further into the > business > world, and maybe you can finally drop MSFT for good. > > http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxoffice/ > > Also, let's not focus too much on what are essentially lack-luster imitations. > What can OSS offer to schools that they couldn't otherwise have? > > How about some math software? I introduced my dad to GNUPlot, which has > been around since the '80s or something, and he was positively enamored with > it > for at least 45 minutes or so. > > Fung-Calc http://fung-calc.sourceforge.net/ > GNUPlot http://www.gnuplot.info/ > R http://www.r-project.org/ > SciGraphica http://scigraphica.sourceforge.net/ > > Maybe some music software (I don't know any schools that can afford ProTools): > > Ardour http://ardour.org/ > Audacious http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ > Jokosher http://www.jokosher.org/ > Rosegarden http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ > Traverso http://traverso-daw.org/ > Ubuntu Studio http://www.ubuntustudio.org/ > Wired http://wired.epitech.net/ > > Graphics: > > Inkscape http://www.inkscape.org/ > GIMP http://www.gimp.org/ > Blender http://www.blender.org/ > > It also might be good to try and keep some engineering jobs in the states. We > need to be introducing kids to computer science at a much earlier age. Some > folks on the list might have guessed I was going to go here: > > Python http://www.python.org/ > > A relevant article: http://www.python.org/doc/essays/cp4e.html > > > I guess the ultimate point is this: > > Open-source software has always been about empowering users. Empowering > people > makes them excited, and it's the only way to win anyone over. > > We all know all the nasty things certain vendors of proprietary software > represent. One of the big ones is lock-in, both in terms of undocumented file > formats and APIs, and through mindshare, chaining our data and skillsets to > their products. These ought to be big concerns for the public sector as a > whole, but especially for schools. > > But to get anywhere, teachers and students need to see what's in it for them. > > I had a few other ideas: > > * Distribute free Ubuntu CDs too all students that want them. Assimilation in > the home leads to acceptance in schools. > > * Focus on security. As a web browsing platform, a typical (recent) Ubuntu > machine has all of the bells and whistles (including great flash support), > but is much less susceptible to malware. There are few people these days > who > haven't dealt with malware in some way, so this is always an easy sell, > especially given the recent incidents with porn appearing on school > computers > (can't remember were I saw these articles), likely due to malware. > > Ok, better wrap this up. Sorry to ramble. > > -Forest
