Subject: Re: Getting Linux into schools
From: James Zuelow (e5z8652@zuelow.net)
Date: Tue May 07 2002 - 23:53:21 AKDT
On Tue, 7 May 2002, Matthew Schumacher wrote:
>
> Yes,
>
> Given that the new microsoft license requires the schools to count the
> total number of PC's (including macs and other pc hardware that can't
> even run windows):
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/education/?ID=SAcalculator#pc
>
> I think that linux will start looking even more attractive to this market.
>
> schu
>
While I'm not Microsoft's greatest fan, it should be pointed out that the
calculator is intended for a package, not just Windows. If you look up at
the software selection, you'll see that Microsoft Office for Macintosh can
be part of the software package the school is buying. In fact, the
selection is for "Office" - standard, pro, Windows, Mac, whatever. Since
you only count 486's and below that actually run "the software" the
license would appear to cover a Terminal Server situation where Office is
running on a server, and the school is using obsolescent hardware as dumb
terminals instead of trashing them.
It can be effective to point out crazy license agreements to promote
Linux, but remember that if you leave part of the picture out you are just
helping the Microsoft sales team out. They will point out the ommission and
claim that you are being deliberately deceptive just because you don't
like Microsoft. That is a powerful argument to someone who has invested
tens of thousands of dollars in Microsoft products over the years and has
a lot of institutional inertia behind them to keep doing so. It can be
tricky to get people to switch horses in mid-stream voluntarily.
I'm of the opinion that the way to promote Linux is to point out the
positive points Linux and Open Source software like OpenOffice.org has to
offer, not the negative points that Microsoft or any other proprietary
software has. For example, in this situation point out that licensing
costs will be significantly reduced if they switch - essentially they'll
pay for support contracts and maybe some special purpose licensed
software. That allows more resources to be devoted to other educational
expenses that might be under budget pressure. Let the Microsoft licenses
speak for themselves when the BSA comes to town, or the school district
budget comes up in the assembly. Note that the RedHat announcement
mentioned in the original post doesn't mention Microsoft at all - even
though it's obvious which "existing proprietary solutions" are being
replaced.
Cheers,
James
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Wed May 08 2002 - 00:01:07 AKDT