NSW [Australia] considers giving students Linux laptops

[chestnut1969]

Hello All

Here's an interesting news article I came across this morning. The NSW government is considering a Linux laptop solution to deliver the federal governments initiative of one laptop per student.

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24490953-15306,00.html

Cheers

[smoker]

hope they do implement this, the more young linux adopters the better :-)

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

That would be a nice scenario were the school system provides the computer to the student; however, based on my experience, that is not how it works in many countries.

Sorry for the LONG post!

I bought my first home computer in the very early 80s. My children learned to use it for their homework. It did not take long to realize that they got better grades because of the computer. The teachers could read the papers, the papers could include graphs, and the spelling was correct.

In the 90's, the school system in the town where I live wanted to have computers in the schools. The school system didn't have IT departments. They learned that MACs didn't require the school to be technically literate so they chose MACs. Not to mention that Apple was offering discounts for obvious reasons. How did they pay for the MACs? They asked us to donate our spare coins when we checked out of the queues at the grocery store.

Eventually the school system developed IT departments. Initially the IT department was needed to network printers and such. However, the roll of IT grew. As the school system became more tech savvy, it decided that MACs were expensive. The school system eventually replaced the MACs with PCs running MS Windows. Of course Microsoft was offering discounts to the school system as well.

It has been a decade or so since the MS Windows PC took over the schools. I still live in the same town. The school systems may evaluate a Linux distro based on price; however, the school system has to evaluate the overall cost of switching to a Linux distro.

What follows are only examples. It is more than the cost to the school system:

If the student's family doesn't know how to install a Linux distro or have a computer that will easy support a Linux distro what can be done?

You may say, supply the computer; however, many school systems can not afford that.


Are the applications like openoffice.org cross compatible enough for the student to completer their assignments on the family's MS Windows PC?

Will all the Linux distro based educational applications work for a home assignment with their family's computer?

Finally, is the cost of upgrading the computers so the school system can run the next Microsoft OS more than the cost of learning to maintain a Linux distro, and the cost to the student's family?

[Forrest Gumpp]

... Finally, is the cost of upgrading the computers so the school system can run the next Microsoft OS more than the cost of learning to maintain a Linux distro, and the cost to the student's family?

This is more or less the situation I think the various Australian States' school systems now find themselves in, its just that it may not have been clearly pointed out.

Although this move by NSW is a State government proposal (in Australia education is a State government responsibility), the one-laptop-per-student program covering years 9 to 12 of secondary school is a Federal government taxpayer-funded initiative. Thus cost to the student's family does not directly come into it.

What is not clear is exactly what specification laptops are being considered for government procurement. My concern is that the Australian government gets value for its money in whatever purchase is made. The way I see this program being publicised leads me to believe that governments may be in the process of being conned into buying a stable of Vista-capable laptops (at Vista-capable prices) when by mandating Linux compatibility for government procurement, and ordering lower specification hardware that can run the latest Linux distros,they will get much better value for money.

They will also have got off the forced upgrade path of proprietary software.

I have posted in the Ubuntu Community Cafe thread 'Re-entrenching proprietary software in government procurement' http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=943975 more on this matter.

[smoker]

If the student's family doesn't know how to install a Linux distro or have a computer that will easy support a Linux distro what can be done?

it seems to be the students will be supplied with the computer, no one has to install anything!



Are the applications like openoffice.org cross compatible enough for the student to complete their assignments on the family's MS Windows PC?

they should be able to do their assignments on their own supplied laptop, though, open office is freely available for windows in any case.



Will all the Linux distro based educational applications work for a home assignment with their family's computer?

they can use their own supplied laptop, surely?



Finally, is the cost of upgrading the computers so the school system can run the next Microsoft OS more than the cost of learning to maintain a Linux distro, and the cost to the student's family?

i see very little cost in teaching kids to use linux, put a nine year old in front of a ubuntu desktop for the first time and come back an hour later, they'll probably be able to teach a seasoned user a few things by then:lolflag:

[Forrest Gumpp]

There's more here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=943975 on this one. .....

....There is an apparent disjunct between the $A 56 million mentioned in Dale61's quote in the preceding post, and what would appear to be the NSW share (around one third, or $A 92M to $A 146M) of the Federal program expenditure in Round One of $A 275 million to $A 440 million derived from all the above assumptions.

Australian mainstream journalism has, as usual, been absolutely dismal in reporting or inquiring into the really relevant details of either proposal. The links given in the opening post of the above thread may give some insight into implications of these proposals.

chestnut1969,

In estimating the NSW share of the Federal funding for the one-laptop-per-student program, it has been assumed that around one third of all Australian students in this bracket come from NSW. If anything, the proportion is even higher, which would make the apparent discrepancy even greater.

Where is the $A 36M to $A 90M discrepancy in the funding being diverted to by the NSW government, I wonder?

Or is this just a case of the NSW State government attempting, while being careless of the truth, to get a bit of PR mileage out of what is in fact a Federal government program?

[jarrah-95]

this whould be great i whould be getting one of these and if it dident come with it i whould try to put eeebuntu on it anyway

[Giant Speck]

Zombie thread!!! Aghghghhgghghggbraiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins!

[Sealbhach]

So, did it happen?

.

[myrtle1908]

So, did it happen?

.

Highly unlikely given that the NSW state government is a disgrace. Throw in our joke of a Prime Minister with absolutely no idea what he is doing and we've got zero chance of achieving anything.

[MikeTheC]

Nothing against the Linux component of all this, but I've never seen the point in a school system deploying laptop assets to students.

[Sashin]

Microsoft reduced the price to sustain their license from 30 million to 2 million due on the conditions that those laptops be equipped with windows.