Linux in Schools

[GodfatherofSoul]

This is what I expected.  The exact situation of the high school I 
worked at.

1.)    Administrators like to throw money at problems.  "Buy the 
products with the best advertising, to hell with support personnel."

2. )    Linux could still find a home in the server arena.

3.)    "...because we buy the most expensive, best advertised products 
and we need personnel to support them".  Maybe I had a bad experience, 
but our Novell/M$ admins were absolutely worthless.

This is why I think schools without big budgets are a better, more 
accepting audience.  You stand a much better chance of convincing a 
school without the resources that you can build them a network rather 
than some JoCo SuperInt. that he needs to get rid of GroupWise.  In any 
case, building a freeware network from donations and such for either a 
school in need or as a demonstration allows you to do work without 
making major changes to existing infrastructure.  Assuming someone 
actually makes the decision to convert, installing Linux on 200 desktops 
will take some time :)

Also, a huge advantage for  building not converting is not having to 
fight a battle for every WAN.  Setting up some networks where you know 
the answer will be "yes" gives you experience, credibility, and probably 
some contacts.

MBSmith at dstsystems.com wrote:

>My brother-in-law is the CFO of North Kansas City School District, and 
>after giving him a quick run down in the Linux state of affairs, he 
>responded with the following:
>
>quote
>I talked with our IT Director about your questions and received the 
>following response:
>
>Primary reasons:
>
>1) Most of the software products we purchase for education are developed 
>for Microsoft and Novell. (NCS, Alice, Versatrans, Boss Horizon, CCC, 
>Paws, etc)
>
>2) Our students need to be exposed to microsoft as it is the primary 
>operating system utilized in businesses.
>
>3) Most employees we hire from the outside have Microsoft and Novell 
>experiences already.
>
>
>You maybe able to give us some new ideas on the uses of Linux.  Anytime 
>you have any info just let me know.  See you 
>soon.............Thanks...............Paul Harrell
>end quote
>
>I think I'll work on him from a $$ aspect, and give him some solid case 
>info where it's helped organisations.  I have to start somewhere....
>
>For the record, here's what I asked him;
>quote
>[intro snipped]
>Through KCLUG email 'chatting', the question of Linux in schools has been 
>raised, and I was wondering if you are aware if this alternative has ever 
>been discussed for use in the school system?  While it may be impractical 
>to remove all exposure to Windows from students right now, seeing as it's 
>the current primary business environment, this will certainly be less of 
>an issue in future, and exposing them to Linux now will give them a head 
>start.  Also, migrating to a Linux administration infrustructure will 
>certainly influence the operating bottom line - as quite a few government 
>agencies throughout the world are discovering, throwing off the Microsoft 
>licensing burden (shackles) and defining your own upgrade path and 
>schedules can be very liberating.  This may be something your IT people 
>have already discussed with you, but I warn you - if they're Microsoft 
>lackeys, they'll be scared of Linux for no other reason than they don't 
>know what it's like to let go of MS's apron strings.
>
>End of spiel, here's a few links for reference:
>
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/23413.html
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/23667.html
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/23470.html
>end quote
>
>
>
>
>
>"Aaron" <aaron at aarons.net>
>Sent by: owner-kclug at marauder.illiana.net
>02/26/2002 11:20 PM
>
> 
>        To:     "Kclug" <kclug at kclug.org>
>        cc: 
>        Subject:        Re: Linux in Schools
>
>
>Call the North Kansas City School District and ask for Jerry Delgato. Tell
>him I told you to call and he'll be more then happy to talk to you about
>anything and everything.
>
>Aaron Wendel
>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Gene Dascher [mailto:gedascher at multiservice.com]
>>>Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 11:03 AM
>>>To: Kclug
>>>Subject: Linux in Schools
>>>
>>>
>>>Are any of you involved in Linux advocacy with any of the KC
>>>area school
>>>districts?  I'd be interested to get some information about
>>>how to introduce
>>>the subject to a school district and help implement a
>>>solution, if possible.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>Gene
>>>
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