School Leaving Microsoft Windows Behind

Why Consider Linux? Less viruses Greater stability Reduce hardware costs Reduce licensing costs Reduce admin costs

What about my programs? Lots of Open-Source alternatives –Microsoft Office == Open Office –Photoshop == The Gimp – Programming IDEs == Eclipse –Geometer’s Sketchpad == GeoGebra No Alternative? –Windows Terminal Server

Why not use Linux? Resistance to change Could be a difficult switch Too much proprietary software

In the Classroom

The Good Windsor Unified School District Northern California

Original Setup an aging Microsoft Windows environment running on 70 Hewlett-Packard and Dell servers spread across seven schools Upgrades would have meant purchasing more powerful hardware and additional licensing costs totaling $100,000 – far too expensive for their limited IT budget

Switching Over running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Each site has a server room with 10 servers with Novell's ZENworks and GroupWise for collaboration has resulted in a 90% reduction in the amount of time it takes IT staff to resolve problems also allows for better remote management

The Savings? Cost the district about $2,500 per school to migrate to Linux compared with the estimated $100,000 it would have cost to upgrade their Windows infrastructure In addition, buying more Microsoft Office licenses would have cost the district $100 per license, she said, whereas OpenOffice was free

The Bad Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto

Original Setup Mr. Montgomery’s classroom A computer lab used to teach computer science and computer engineering classes as well as business and ESL classes The lab computers ran a combination of Red Hat 7 and Mandrake 10.0

Resistance… Mr Montgomery was given a note, telling him that the Linux lab would be dismantled and replaced with a Microsoft-based Classroom Migration Technology Initiative (CTMI) lab The head of school wide services for Monarch Park removed all of the Linux computers from the lab room under the direction of the school’s principal while Montgomery was out at lunch

Quotes from Cases “The kids think Linux is cool because it's new, but what they're really doing is stepping into the 21st century.” –SysAdmin Windsor Unified School District “It’s necessary for students these days to learn about Linux. It’s harmful to their present and future educational opportunities and employment opportunities.” –Mr. Montgomery