Re: [seul-edu] Donated Computers Issue (opportunity knocks)

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

On Wed, May 01, 2002 at 10:09:10AM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
> Can we have a short but offocial article from SEUL to distribute to El Reg and 
> any other news site you can reach? Something along the lines of:

Excellent. I nominate you as $PERSON. I'll stamp the word 'official'
on it, and we're good to go. You want to make a web page out of it? Or
just get a final draft here and then send it out to places.

> --------8<----cut-here----8<--------
> 
> LINUX ENABLES COMPUTER DONATIONS TO SCHOOLS
> 
> $LOCATION, Wednesday: In an official announcement from the SEUL group today, 
> $PERSON overturned Microsoft's draconian threats against the acceptance of 
> donated computers by schools and other needy organisations.
> 
> "Microsoft claim that it is a legal requirement that pre-installed operating 

claims

> systems remain with the computer for the life of the computer," $HESHE said. 
> "Like viruses and security issues, that problem is almost exclusive to 
> Microsoft. Using Linux, OpenOffice.org and other Open Source software, you 
> can accept practically any donated computer regardless of operating system, 
> erase the existing software, install Open Source software and operate the 
> computer legally and safely as a powerful workstation or a server, at little 
> or no cost."
> 
> $PERSON also explained that Linux rolled back the burdens, costs and legal 

Is 'rolled back' a well-known PR phrase here? I only know what it means
because I know what it's meant to mean.

Wow. WordNet definition 2: "reducing prices back to some earlier level".
But still, is this obscure or well-known?

> risks of licence management and software asset auditing for all businesses, 
> organisations and individuals. Linux is also easy to operate as a diskless 
> workstation or "thin client", and many schools were rolling out networks of 
> student terminals using this technology with both donated and new equipment, 
> $HESHE explained.

Having a couple of example schools here would be excellent. Eg,
look at http://casestudy.seul.org/cgi-bin/caseview0.pl and
http://www.k12ltsp.org/casestudy.html. Beacon, Riverdale, and Yorktown
are the canonical examples we use.

Would it also be worthwhile to reference libraries and schools that are
refusing donations because they're scared of attracting attention from
Microsoft? It would give people a sense of urgency and seriousness,
but it might also distract them.

> SEUL is an organisation working towards a simpler, easier Linux experience for 
> all, and may be contacted through their website at http://www.seul.org/. In 
> combination with your local Linux user group - which you can locate at 
> http://www.linux.org/ - SEUL can field volunteers to help schools and 
> charitable organisations get started in the stable, secure, safe world of 
> Linux.
> 
> --------8<----cut-here----8<--------
> 
> Cheers; Leon
>