[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [school-discuss] How to present Linux to schools





On Thu, Apr 25, 2002 at 09:43:20AM -0600, Randy Smith wrote:
> First, thank you all for your responses. I'm beginning a project with the
> local college to build a sample lab. The I want to use this to demonstrate
> Linux and what it can do.
> 
> My biggest problem is that some of the schools in the area are so poor
> that they are completely funded by grants (including a few Gates
> Foundation Grants). That pulls most of the teeth out of the "cost of
> ownership" arguments.

I think that grant based funding is a big argument _for_ open source.
Approach it from this perspective. Once the grant has funded the
building of the lab, does the grant fund ongoing maintenance?  Where
are you getting funding for the x hours per week it will take to
maintain the lab.  Linux solutions have better reliability, can be
setup to self-maintain (go cron+apt-get) and can be locked down better
than the equivalent propritary software systems.

> That aside, the tech crew at these schools are all Windows guys. I
> suggested FreeBSD for a DNS server because the Windows box wasn't
> working right and I got that blank stare.

> I have seen asked somewhere (this list maybe) for a list of Windows and
> OSS equivalents but have not seen an answer. Eg MS Office <=> Open
> Office. Does anyone know of such a list?

This list is very helpful, just post your questions on apps as required. 
As far as I know, nobody is maintaining a up to date Open Source application
equivalency list (Besides that major 5-6 desktop apps that was posted recently).
Perhaps if you build up such a list for your work, you can post it back, and we
can place it on a wiki or webpage.

-- 
Alan Chen
Digikata LLC
http://digikata.com