Re: [school-discuss] A thought about accelerating Open Source deployment

[Matt Oquist <moquist@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think this is definitely the direction things are heading, though at
this point I don't think there's enough support available for
a significantly accelerated nationwide rollout. Two years ago my idea
was to convince new schools and districts, and sell them support. At
this point, the schools who were already convinced two years ago still
comprise the vast majority of my consulting business (and permanent
employment), though several more are experimenting and will require
more extensive support within the next couple of years.

But as more and more folks adopt FOSS, support will begin to show up
on the map in a more visible way.

In any case, I think putting together a full-stack team approach with
one or more hardware vendors is a great idea. Symbio Technologies has
a /very/ attractive little thin client that consumes 5W average during
use, so I'd definitely talk to them.

--matt

Daniel Howard wrote:    [Thu Nov 02 2006, 04:09:34PM EST]
> I'd like to vent a thought to the group on how to accelerate the 
> deployment of Open Source: bundled turnkey solutions coupled with local 
> Linux consultant support.  A school would be wooed by a hardware vendor 
> (as opposed to us volunteer and staff types who can't take them out for 
> dinner and a show) and the vendor offers a bundled server/client 
> solution, with easy to follow diagrams for how to connect everything for 
> a classroom server model.  The vendor also advertises and promotes his 
> products at shows and conferences.  For support, the school is given the 
> name of a local Linux expert who knows how to support that platform, and 
> also folks like Steve Hargadon who do it remotely for the entire US.  I 
> mention the local support solution because that's what APS chose, they 
> wanted someone who could meet frequently and even stop by to check on 
> things, so I'm assuming this should be part of the solution offered for 
> this bundled approach as well.
> 
> What do you folks think?  I know at least one thin client hardware 
> vendor who might be interested in this, if our and other groups felt it 
> might fly.  It would create more Open Source products and jobs, and of 
> course, help schools.
> 
> Regards,
> Daniel
> 
> -- 
> Daniel Howard
> President and CEO
> Georgia Open Source Education Foundation
--
Open Source Software Engineering Consultant
http://majen.net/