Re: [Fsfe-uk] OSS in schools

[Shane M. Coughlan]

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Simon Morris wrote:
> This is forwarded on from the LUGMasters list. Do we have any list
> members in North Wales?

Hi Simon

This is very interesting.  I think it would be ideal if we could prepare
at least a short brief for him.

Some thoughts:

- - Creating a local distribution is exiciting but perhaps a waste of
resources.  It might be better to adopt something with Welsh support
(like Ubuntu or SuSE) and to build a support-base.

- - The key thing with regards large deployment is the overall transition
cost in terms of both financial investment and other resources.  In ICT
there is a massive cost regarding the retraining of both users and
technical staff.  Perhaps a phased approach to Free Software adoption
would minimize the cost while maximizing the benefit (ie, OOo on the
desktop and GNU/Linux on the servers to start with).

- - License costs, TCO and system stability should be considered carefully
as an argument for the adoption of Free Software, as well as avoiding
lock-in.  IBM has some good information about the first topics though I
don't know the best resources for lock-in.

Shane

- --
Shane Coughlan
Free Software Foundation Europe e.V.
+3227470357 ext 408
address@hidden
Support Free Software > http://fsfe.org
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