Re: [school-discuss] Project developing free school server solution

[Paolo Pumilia <xpol@interfree.it>]

>From Bjoern Scheuermann, Oct 17 at 21:54:
 >we are a group in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in south-western Germany 
 >developing an OSS, "out-of-the-box", Linux based server solution for schools. 
 >Our project was initiated and is supported by the administration of 
 >Baden-Wuerttemberg. 
 >What we *have* is a distribution which provides a simple installation without 
 >lots of options and with some ready-to-run features specifically designed to 
 >meet the typical school requirements. What we also have is an increasing 
 >number of problems with this solution, specifically concerning security 
 >updates and usage of somewhat outdated technology - nevertheless is is 
 >successfully used in several hundret schools for quite some time now.

We are giving rise to a board of directors aimed at providing a linux distribution
to schools ad guiding a profesional remote assitance service to school net 
administrators. 

We are considering skolelinux. 
What are the differences between that and your distribution ?


 >
 >What we *want* is a complete redesign. The first steps of this task are done, 
 >but we are still working on the basics und theoretical foundations of the 
 >project. In this process we are now considering whether we should open up 
 >internationally. Previous versions of the server were for example only 
 >available in German, and nobody thought about internationalization.
 >
 >Features we are planning to realize in a time horizon of about 10-12 months 
 >are for example:
 >o support of single- and multi-server installations
 >o completely manageable via web interface, you should not need to know that 
 >it's Linux doing the work in the background
 >o support of MS Windows (98, 2K, XP) and Linux clients
 >o LDAP-based user management
 >o extended privilege system, which especially supports the typical school 
 >requirements: easy auto-creation/maintenance of lots of student accounts, 
 >special privileges for teachers (without making them admins),...
 >o integration of disk imaging solution to quickly restore clients via network
 >o flexible internet access control (teachers can allow/deny access for 
 >students, integrated web filter,...)
 >o complete mail solution with out-of-the-box webmail, IMAP access,...
 >o robust and secure design
 >o much, much, much more


I think some work has been already done by skolelinux (www.skolelinux.no)
Please tell me more about your project. 


>
 > (...)
 >So what we'd really like to know is the following:
 >
 >Is there any interest in a solution like this outside Germany?

Our working group is interested
Please read more about our project at:  http://linfe.it/projects/redne

 >Is it worth the additional effort to make this "international"?

Sure

 >
 >And -- maybe the most important question -- are there people outta there (in 
 >Germany or anywhere else) willing to put a little work into this? For example 
 >helping us to stay "compatible" to other countries' school systems and 
 >specific requirements during the planning phase, to translate documentation 
 >and user interfaces, and maybe even to really participate and do some 
 >planning/programming/maintenance?

yes

Best regards 
-- 
Paolo Pumilia

AICA OpenSource WorkGroup Coordinator 
email: paolo.pumilia@acm.org
cell: +39 347 2315 496
Website: http//linfe.it/