RE: [Sheflug] Schools, patents and the future of Linux

["Chris Johnson" <chris [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

". and i feel at the moment the best
 place is on the servers...."
>
>
> Brett


This has been the case with a company in London who over 3 years have been
trying to get Linux on the desktop in schools.  They have decided to use the
back door.  They are now selling a box that will "increase the schools
internet connection speed".  No mention of Linux is made in case it scares
them off.  They are selling on function alone.  That way the schools don't
have enough information to make any rash and ill informed judgements about
the suitability of the o/s.  The box has been well received.  Their plan is
to steadily introduce more and more "black boxes" (caches ,firewalls,
content filters, NAS) until the school has been using Linux for some time.
Then when the school say "its not supported" they can say "but you've been
running it without problem for the past n years".  Schools are meant to
teach choice.  Choice in what you write, choice in how you write it, choice
in how you research and find your information.  Pupils are now expected to
evaluate their choices.  Its my opinion that schools not offering the choice
of at least OSX/Mac and Windows/PC are not preparing their students.  Much
of this reluctance is, I'm sure, down to a fear that they will be shown up
for not knowing enough about IT.  Too many teachers teach from the book that
says "I know it and I'm going to teach you it" rather than "let's learn this
together".  Certainly, in IT, changes are happening so quickly that its not
possible to always know everything.  People need to get out of the mind set
that says "you are a failure if you don't know the answers to all possible
student questions".

IMO Servers are the way to go with PCs booting as thin clients the next step
so that teachers and students can choose which is the most appropriate OS to
use.  The thin client boot option means that they still have access to the
software they have already invested in but when the windows box falls
over/gets hacked it can still be used for work that can be accomplished with
the thin client.  Minimal extra support is required, the costs for the
server and either network boot proms/NICs or a stack of floppies to boot
from for the thin client.  I would envisage that thin client servers are on
a schools site but managed centrally by a technician/programmer/Linux bod or
whatever funded by several schools over the internet or over the schools
network.

Schools happy with the thin client model can then move on to installing thin
clients instead of PCs on the desktop making things easier to replace,
easier to secure, easier to manage, lower of energy consumption (in both
electricity for the thin client and for the air con to keep the suite cool
and easier on the space that is so often limited in schools.  Sun estimate
that the thin clients they install today will still be in use in 8 years
time, as opposed to the current trend of a 3 year rolling program of PC
based desktop computing hardware.  Another cost saving.  The thin client
model in Hull has been used to extend the school IT services into the home
of the students through the use of a set top box.   Let me know if you want
details and I'll dig them out.

Chris Johnson
(No not that one, the other one!)
(running SUSE 9, 512MB PIII 600 (ish))

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