The Governments and Schools moving to Linux Thread

[mips]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technol...073631,00.html

SA turns back on Microsoft
22/02/2007 14:50 - (SA)

Cape Town - South Africa plans to switch all government departments over to open source computer software instead of using Microsoft systems, a cabinet spokesperson said on Thursday.
Themba Maseko told reporters the cabinet would use the open source Linux operating system in a bid to lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills.
Unlike rival Microsoft's proprietary software, the open source operating system works on the principle that software is free and can be modified at no cost by anyone to suit local and specific needs.
The cost implications are considerable in a country struggling to bridge the digital divide, and where a vast majority of the people are computer illiterate.
"This is going to be a long process... What this (open source) initiative is basically trying to streamline (is) our use and development of software in the country," Maseko said.
Maseko said it was too early to provide timeframes for implementing Linux, but by April this year an office would be established by the department of science and technology and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to oversee it.
South Africa joins governments in other emerging markets like Brazil, China, Spain, India and Malaysia in adopting open source software, with proponents of Linux arguing that the free software could help slash the cost of getting computers into schools, homes and community centres.

[goumples]

My school already uses a form of Unix on their servers.. the pcs in the classrooms still run win xp though.

[dorcssa]

The real issue is to use linux on the desktops in the classroom, I think.

[PartisanEntity]

New York Stock Exchange switches to AIX and Linux:
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.c...254860,00.html

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is migrating off a 1,600 millions of instructions per second (MIPS) mainframe to IBM System p servers running AIX and x86 Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) servers running Linux, with the first part of the move going live today.

[PartisanEntity]

While browsing through the Linux/Unix section of one of the newspapers I read I came across an interesting study carried out in 2005 (English) by the IT department of the City of Vienna recommending the increased use of open source applications and infrastructure in order to save money and be more independent. I also found out that our city has it's own Debian distribution called WIENUX (German) (Wien is Vienna in German).

According to the site, this year there should be around 1000 workstations in the city administration using WIENUX. Quite interesting

[Simran]

Hi,

I was introduced to linux, specifically ubuntu by my school. After using windows when I first joined, it was common knowledge that the system was crap and not greatly functional. So we had a swich over to ubuntu. Use thin clients, and have a network of about 120 - 150 computers all running ubuntu.

For stuff like coursework we use zope, exe, knoda, openoffice etc etc..

I don't know much about the specifics but i did find this:
http://www.schoolforge.org.uk/index....egness_Grammar

It looks about 1 year out of date but it gives the general idea.

I prefer using it to the old windows system and its a better use of taxpayers money to pay an ubuntu geek technitian to keep our network going instead of handing large amounts of money to mr gates.

Generally the ubuntu system is appreciated, but the windows fanboys give the IT teachers stick about it

[aysiu]

Here's another one:
San Diego Students Learn on Linux Desktops from Novell

[aysiu]

Anyone checked out the Ubuntu case studies page? So far, they've bagged an airline, a research institute, a radio station, and a school.

[BuffaloX]

Anyone checked out the Ubuntu case studies page? So far, they've bagged an airline, a research institute, a radio station, and a school.

Cool.
Could be a good start for a "Get the facts" campaign for Linux.

[aysiu]

German Universities Tap Novell for Infrastructure Needs: "Forty percent of German university students now have access to Linux and management solutions from Novell"

That seems pretty major!