Dennis Dryden wrote:
I say get um' while there young! ;) Well if Schools started using Linux then when the kids go out and get jobs they'll want to use what they know and its what they will use on there home computer. This will then create a bigger market for the games and drivers Linux still isn't getting.
Of course that would be ideal. But schools just do not think like that. In the immediate future, if their students are to be looking for a job where they need basic IT skills in an office - in the vast majority of cases they will be required to use Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, perhaps Sage and then one or two applications that are specific to the company they're working in.
As far as they're concerned the best way to prepare their students for the future is to teach them to use the tools they're most likely to use.
In the current environment, for a school to choose Linux over Windows (or even Mac OS) for the desktop would be a real hassle. For a start, all the teachers probably use Windows at home and they're reluctant to change. The students would probably be less reluctant to having Linux installed at home, but at the end of the day their parents probably use Windows too.
It's also harder for schools to get cheap support for a Linux system. Technicians who can just about cope with a Windows NT/2000 network and keep the printers topped up with ink are easy to come by and relatively cheap to employ. A Linux system adminstrator is not. The ISP being used by pretty much every school in Lincolnshire (my home ground) does not support Linux and the proxy software, firewalls etc. which they actually go to the school to install run on Windows. Buying a dedicated 2 meg ADSL line for the school from any other ISP would be a bad move for the school and their finances.
And of course the other factor is that all the software that is written specifically for schools, to be used in the classroom is written in Windows and at the current time there just aren't Linux based alternatives - although schoolforge.net has a growing list.
Projects like Computers For Schools provide only Windows Software if IIRC.
The truth of the matter is that if a school were to switch all its desktop machines to Linux today, it would be left out in the cold.
Perhaps with organised support from their local Linux User Groups and with a bit more education for the schools themselves this transition can begin to happen. The schools need to be made to realise that teaching our children to passive purchasers of closed, proprietary solutions to problems is not enough. Educators should take little convincing that that sharing information, as opposed to concealing information is a good thing. The FOSS development model sits much more nicely within the principles of education.