Promoting Open Source in Schools

[Christopher Browne]

On 12/16/05, William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> It will likely be waste of time.  Not sure how UK schools are funded,
> but here Ontario Gov funds the school.  Tough sell to begin with.  Then,
> you have to deal with IT staffs at Ministry of Education, various school
> boards, and then teachers/secretary.  None will welcome Linux, because
> Linux threatens their job security.  And, you can't fire those people
> who refuses to learn Linux.

These are all things that can change slant with remarkable rapidity.

There are those who were involved in getting Windows-based things
committed into the political infrastructure who would discover their
job security threatened by ANY change to that.

Linux hasn't got "account executives" to schmooze people towards it;
certainly that component of the upper/middle management that play golf
with vendors would find themselves threatened by something that is
absent of that.

However, there's always a "flip side."  For the vast majority of
teachers, this in NO WAY represents a threat to their job security. 
To the contrary, it would represent an opportunity for them to attend
dozens of "professional education" presentations which are the means
by which the rank and file work on their 'educational seniority.'

We have seen these sorts of "sea changes" take place on several
occasions, albeit involving computer systems with fairly highly funded
sales forces:

- Way back when, Apple held the market, with the Apple ][ everywhere;
- As that aged, IBM PC systems replaced this;
- As MS-DOS aged, Microsoft Windows replaced this.

We most certainly are at a stage where Microsoft Windows has aspects
that are "long in the tooth."  We *don't* have someone heavily funded
that is selling Linux into there as successor, but that doesn't mean
there can't be another "sea change."
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