On 25/05/10 07:44, Colin McCarthy wrote: > Smart Technologys the makers of 'SmartBoards' one of the two popular > interactive whiteboards already do a linux client. Its almost exactly the > same as the windows version and works perfectly. I have used to many times at > our LUG meeting which occasionally meets in a school.
As do mimio [1]. At BETT for a couple of years they have been demonstrating their IWB running on Linux (Ubuntu), Mac OSX and Windows. > Capita recently bought Ramesys (a large education IT provider) so there is > little chance of BFS, Building Schools for the Future, schools to have any > local control and choose Open Source software. SIMS has a terrible reputation when you talk to teachers. It does, unfortunately, tie you into to a complete MS stack from the desktop (Outlook/MSO) through to the server backend. There are some projects to build a FOSS alternative, but as of today I am unsure of their level of completeness. > FOSS does stand a chance in private or independent schools. FOSS *should* not need to "stand a chance". The whole ethos of FOSS is such a perfect fit for education, it is, quite frankly, an abomination that we in the UK have such a poor level of take up. It is easy to level blame at certain organisations etc. but it is really up to *us* to fix it... That means all of us. > Mark Thomas and SiruisIT do a lots of FOSS stuff in schools. Maybe they > could be on the Ubuntu UK podcast to talk about it. Do you mean Mark Taylor perhaps? Yes, Sirius[2] were the first (and only) Becta approved supplier on their accredited list who specialise in Open Source Technologies. Without any IT steering/guidance from Becta there is now an opportunity (and also a threat) to get more FOSS into schools. Sites like Open Source Schools[3] and School Forge[4] are useful places to guide teachers and IT support staff. Also do remind them that there are more professional companies available to provide support and services than just Sirius. Mark Taylor discussed this with us at BETT this year, he wants/needs there to be more competitors in this space so the Open Source model proves itself to be sustainable and our customers have choice. Cheers Al [1] http://www.mimio.com/global/em/index.asp [2] http://www.siriusit.co.uk/ [3] http://opensourceschools.org.uk/ [4] http://www.schoolforge.net/ -- The Open Learning Centre http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
