Linux in the TDSB

[Igor Denisov]

Hello all,

I am currently involved in an effort to get the TDSB (the Toronto
school board) to agree to beta-test Linux as an OS for the clients on
its board-wide network.

I've made contact with some of the people close / at the IT management
top, as well as the support folks, etc.
The Standards and Practices committee seems quite intimidating at this
point, I see them as largely conservative.

Although several schools have already tried and do run Linux as part
of their Comp. Sci. programs, they seem to mostly use stand-alone
workstations or small server + thin client labs.
I intend to get Linux to be used as a client on the whole network and
actually be approved for that use.

Can anyone suggest any strategies on how to best promote this idea or
what _not_ to do?

To start, I'd like to test Linux (still deciding on the distro,
gravitating towards SUSE 9.1, on my home system, it replaced windows
with the least effort and most compatibility) on a few machines. From
this I intend to prove that Linux is a viable substitute for Win2K
while maintaining the quality of the user experience and achieving
more in terms of security, stability, and system uptime.

I realize that this is very much of an uphill battle and that the idea
will require quite a bit of leverage to even be listened to.

I've written a brief essay on why using OSS and Linux would be of
benefit in the educational system, just touching on the key issues and
benefits (i.e. large numbers of universities already use it, even
outside CS/engineering labs).
I can include it  in my next message (this one is already too long :-)

Igor
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