[geeks] Q: Regarding Linux in K-12 education

[Lionel Peterson]

On Jan 16, 2010, at 8:20 PM, Nate <nate at portents.com> wrote:

> Not first-hand.  I was curious, did some googling, and this is what  
> I could
> come up with, most of which date from a couple of years back, most  
> of it in
> countries other than the US:
>
> http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/linux_terminal_server

That article is theoretical - what could be done, not what has been  
done - I'll look at the rest when I get home (on a train using iPhone  
and the URLs were mangled...

There are, I would guess, about 87 'gee, I just figured out that Linux  
thin clients are cheaper than Windows clients, so every school should  
adopt LSTP right now and save oodles of money!' articles to each 'i  
actually replaced a windows PC with a Linux one in a school setting'  
articles...

I have yet to find any US public School district that is 100% FOSS.  
Using Linux clients to access apps on Windows boxes doesn't really  
save much money, once you factor in managing a second (or maybe third)  
operating environment in the district.

In my district we either displace one platform if we adopt Linux, or  
the one added head count will cost more than any reduction in MS  
license fees. (headcount costs $70K + benefits (incl pension) and  
total annual expenditure for MS licensed software is just under $70K/ 
year)...

Lionel