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Re: Spreading the word (was Re: [Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] Want to presentat LINUXWORLD NY/2002?])



I am not snipping the message just yet, it is a cool and grand discussion.
I am sorry I was not here to interject my 2 drachma earlier today.

I have attended a couple of the regional expos focused on education.  The
response to Linux at these shows is weak to nill.  Last Fall I was at the
Cue Conference (Thanks to Mandrake for the opportunity) in Sacramento.
There was an ok response from a few few folks, more interest from the rank
and file than from the Administrative types than from the Show managment.

Problems I have identified that create a major hurdle to adopting Linux in
education are listed here.  This is not exhaustive, but it reflects the
major issues I have encountered in discussing with educators and software
companies.

1) Lack of familiarity to the decision makers.  Microsoft has worked hard to
squeeze the apple, and they have been sucessful far beyond anyones belief.
As a result of having MS and Apple in the classroom and on the kitchen table
at home all these years, most of these folks have no desire to learn
something new.  There are many things being tossed at teachers and
Administrators that require so much attention and energy, there is not much
left for most to lean Linux.

2) FUD.  As we all know, there are few things Microsoft does better than
wedging doubt into the computer world. (I am sure that if a MS rep was
standing next to you as the  family Doctor was offering good Medical advice,
he could cause one to reject the doctors advice with a few well placed
words)

3) No recognized "Out of the Box" solutions for the most basic school
administration needs.

4) No "boxed software" to load in the classroom.

5) No local expertise to help school folks understand and implement the most
basic Linux solutions.

6) No visible revenue stream for ED-Soft companies to port software to
Linux.  (Known Brands such as Jump-Start, Davidson, etc...)  Without a
defined revenue stream, there is no reason to dump money into making a port,
and they refuse to give away the right to port to Linux (ala LOKI) on the
possibility that the Linux Software will cannibalize revenues from the MS
and Apple versions.

I think that if a couple of folks could think out each of these issues (add
more to list please)  /we could create solutions to each hurdle.  (he
hurdles need to be adressed in plainspeak, not geekspeek.)

I can say more, but my dinner is beeping from the microwave.
SteelHead

aka Bill Ries-Knight


----- Original Message -----
From: "zeruch [Joseph Estevao Arruda]" <z@valinux.com>
To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: Spreading the word (was Re: [Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] Want to
present at LINUXWORLD NY/2002?])


> Douglas Loss wrote:
> ur organization focuses on educational applications for
> > Linux below university level.  I don't know how we would cater
> > to businesses--try to convince them there's money to be made in
> > putting Linux into the schools?  _That'd_ be a hard sell!
> > There's not much money to be made in educational consulting in
> > _any_form.
>
> That is not true. The edu consulting business is a niche, but a
> lucrative one for the oligarchy of players on the scene.  At least two
> had come to VA looking for expertise in doing large scale projects for
> school districts (one for an entire state at the secondary level).  So
> it's there, but it is still a business/industry orientation. Those magic
> buzzwords like 'solutions' and return on investment still apply.
>
> > It's true, but it's also a task for some other organization.  As
> > I say, we focus on below-university-level education.  If we try
> > to do everything, we'll end up doing nothing well.
>
> Well, I would agree with this, but I was thinking more along the lines
> of using it to stick a wedge in and then drill down.
>
> > > Pick the battle, pick the venue, state your case.  The rest is
> > > a free t-shirt ;)
> > >
> > I agree with you, Joe.  I'm just coming to believe that these
> > venues aren't the best ones for us to spend our limited
> > resources on.  I think we should be attending educational
> > conferences, rather than commerce-driven Linux ones.
>
> And that may very well be true.  The Linux conferences do one thing
> though...visibility on a grand (at least for odd cvalues of *grand*)
> scale.
>
> >  The
> > trouble is, I don't know which conferences would be the best to
> > attend, what it would take in time and finances to attend them,
> > and what kind of presentations would work best for them.
>
> Best 2 krona I can provide:
>
> 1. make a small set of packaged/canned presentations with varying
> focuses (i.e. language learning, student/faculty collaboration, basic
> skills, etc.)  Make sure they are pithy and visual (most
> administrarors/executives, etc, deal with ideograms and short sentences
> tahn white papers, and they are the ones that usually sign the checks
> and/or ask their techs to investigate "this rather interesting set of
> tolls I saw at X conference")
>
> 2. Find folks to present them at a set of regional conferences (I would
> wager that regionals would be a better hit than mondo-sized cons)
>
> 3. Update, repeat and enjoy.
>
> There is more to discuss, but I'll let people flame me a little first ;)
>
> z
>
> > For
> > anyone on the list: if you have answers to any or all of these
> > questions, post them here!  We want to get our message out to
> > the decision-makers in the schools, not just our fellow Linux
> > users.
> >
> > --
> > Doug Loss           Advertisements contain the only truths
> > dloss@suscom.net    to be relied on in a newspaper.
> > (570) 326-3987             Mark Twain
>
> --
> Joseph Estevao Arruda | www.valinux.com
> Corporate Alchemist | www.sourceforge.net
> VA Linux Systems | www.linux.com
> z at valinux dot com | www.enlightenment.org
> +1.510.683.6730 | www.osdn.com
>