OpenClassroom: Alha 01 (Server) available.

["Jose C. Lacal" <jose.lacal@openclassroom.org>]

Folks:

As promised, here is our first deliverable to the community. Full News
release below. Comments, feedback, and volunteers requested.

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Munich, Germany, 16 September 1999.


OpenClassroom Alpha 01 (server) available now.

OpenClassroom announced today the general availability of their Alpha 01
(Server) toolset. This is a developers-only release. It includes most of
the components of the final distribution, as well as sample content for
a school to set-up their own website. Also included are a 60-page
installation and configuration manual, as well as a guide to customize
the sample content.

The Alpha 01 (Server) toolset and the documentation files (in PDF
format) are available for download at
http://www.openclassroom.org/download/server_sw/forms now, free of
charge, at OpenClassroom's website.


Why Open Source in Education?

"Most school administrators and teachers do not have neither the time
nor the inclination to become experts in Open Source software. Yet, they
all are very interested in exploring the use of Open Source software in
the educational arena for several reasons: no licensing fees, access to
source code, no forced obsolescence of their existing hardware, and no
dependence on a single software vendor" stated Jose C. Lacal,
OpenClassroom's Chief Vision Officer. "OpenClassroom's corporate mission
is to facilitate the adoption of Open Source software by educational
institutions through the creation and distribution of an integrated
package of software that allows educational organizations to create
'communities of knowledge' by connecting their existing PCs or Macs (old
or new) into a network, both local and worldwide, such as the Internet.
A central focus of OpenClassroom is to allow such organizations to
extend the usable life of their existing equipment by bringing them
state-of-the-art Open Source software that runs on their 'old' PCs and
Macs. Our toolset allows organizations and citizens to own and operate
their own 'digital printing press.'"


OpenClassroom and the Open Source community

"OpenClassroom is committed to be a responsible member of the Open
Source community," stated Brendon Grunewald, OpenClassroom's Chief
Rainmaker. "OpenClassroom is already a member of the SEUL-Edu community,
and we are also in discussions with the ScholarNet people in Mexico in
order to work together towards a common Open Source educational
framework. We are also looking forward to forging alliances with content
producers that want to target the educational sector. The OpenClassroom
distribution will allow those content providers to reach a much wider
audience faster, and at lower costs."


Looking for seed funding

OpenClassroom is currently looking for seed funding. Please contact
Brendon Grunewald for a copy of our Business Plan Summary and Term
Sheet.


Background information

Launched in June 1999, OpenClassroom brings the revolutionary power and
global reach of the Internet; the cost-effective, high-quality
technology of the OpenSource community; and the transparency of open
information standards; affordably, to the global educational community.

The OpenClassroom Distribution consists of three components: a Server
component (released today); a Client component (to be released in 03
weeks); and a Connector component (to be released in 06 weeks). Please
refer to the [http://www.openclassroom.org/developers] Developer's
section of OpenClassroom's website for more technical details.

OpenClassroom's business model is to select, package and distribute the
best and most relevant Open Source software available that is useful for
educational institutions. OpenClassroom wants to become the Red Hat (TM)
of Open Source in Education. According to some estimates, the
educational IT budget in the US alone is over US$10 billion per year,
including software.

OpenClassroom's founders have over 20 years of combined IT and telecom
business experience in both technical and managerial roles in
multinational high-tech companies. Their passion for Open Source,
combined with their personal commitment to Education, lead them to
launch this initiative.


Contact

[Jose.Lacal@OpenClassroom.org] Jose C. Lacal
Chief Vision Officer
http://www.OpenClassroom.org
+49 (173) 4077745
ICQ: 34812065 

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Jose C. Lacal, Chief Vision Officer

jose.lacal@openclassroom.org
http://www.openclassroom.org

OpenClassroom: bringing the power of OpenSource to Education.