3 years ago I did support to the schools in B7. There (I guess in other cities too) was support cost by hours. So, If school needs file/printer server the cost is same for both MS and Linux. But, if school(specialized in math and comp) needs Web/FTP + DB server, Linux is mooore cheaper (I don't speak about licenses, just installation/configuration in hours)
I think battle for Linux Desktops in schools is useless. Battle should be on Colleges and Univercities, there jobs usually submitted in english :) . All we can do in school - work with 15-17 aged. As example I can tell you about activities of "Amuta leAtid aNegev". They did Web Olympiad for youth. (btw, guess what was the platform for web+db server with PHP for it?) Now, they want to do Hi-Tech Kid Incubator (hamama technologit). They begin with courses on Linux, SQL, Apache, PHP, cvs, bla-bla-bla.... 20 clever boys will switch from Ms to Linux.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gilad Ben-Yossef [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 3:03 PM
To: Victor Zaslavsky
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Edu in linux
On Thu, 2003-01-02 at 14:19, Victor Zaslavsky wrote:
> 1. Do not forget support cost - it usually higher for Linux than for
> Windows (there was appropriate IDC report).
A research paid for by Microsoft. Allow me to be skeptical... ;-)
Linux is sometime cheaper and sometimes not so is every other solution
out there, but how do you qualify in the freedom and values you pass to
your children?
A REAL school will choose Linux (and other free technologies) and will
use the *opportunity* to build a group of older children which will
support, guide and help their younger friends and the teachers. This
way, not only does support costs less - the children also learn a really
valuable skill set for life and also something more then a skill set.
Think I'm dreaming? anyone here from the Leyada school raise you
hands...
> 2. I want my kids to be ready to start their work immediately in any
> normal office. Why should I to sacrifice competitive strength of my kids
> to OS wars?
So you think what your children need to be successful adults is full
knowledge of Word?
Funny, I prefer my children to learn to think for themselves, be self
reliant, learn to solve problems and be creative, learn to protect their
rights and ask smart questions, not operate a word processor like good
drones. And for this they need tools they can take apart and put
together again like Lego, not closed source systems.
And you know what? if they will learn these things then it's the other
children, those that will learn Word at school, that we will need to be
worried about their "competitive strengths" just like all my friends
from collage that learned Microsoft technologies that wont do them any
bit of good to take your last job offer discovered.
Gilad.
--
Gilad Ben-Yossef <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://benyossef.com
Q: "What do you do if your Linux box goes down?"
A: "Sit around in the dark until the power comes back on"
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