[Gllug] Re: The BETT education exhibition at Olympia

[Chris Bell]

On Mon 02 Jan, Chris Bell wrote:
> Hello,
>    The annual BETT ICT-in-education exhibition at Olympia is on January
> 11-14. It used to be dominated by Acorn, but more recently Microsoft and
> RM-Nimbus. SuSE appeared for a while. Usually free entry if you fill in the
> form.
> 
> www.bettshow.com
> 
> 
   I went along today for a quick look.
   It seems that the official government-backed policy is that we must go
system independant, so some software is being re-written in house so as not
to be confused with any known system (some people may not be using M$!). I
was told that they have started to look into stories of lock-in contracts,
especially for software.
   According to the Department for Education and Skills, the current policy
is to offer "Building Schools for the Future" total exclusive contracts for
fixed terms of 10 to 15 years, and must cover any building work, building
maintenance, plumbing, electrical, computer hardware, software, and
everything else. I was told that if any group is interested in supplying IT
facilities they should first find a builder to cover that part of the work.
I expressed surprise, so this was repeated to me.
   I was told that schools are unlikely to go Open Source unless they are
owned and run privately.
   There was the usual collection of large companies such as M$, RM, and
Viglen, and hardware manufacturers. Most small stands were demonstrating
specific projects and facilities, almost entirely based on M$.
   I found three stands dedicated to Open Source projects, plus a few others
where at least one person on the stand knew something about Open Source. One
said that I was about the third person to mention Open Source this year.

http://www.schoolforge.org.uk

http://www.lamsinternational.com

http://www.trainingcamp.co.uk

   If you can get along during normal working hours (or Saturday) go and add
your ideas and comments. (Students are not officially welcome).

-- 
Chris Bell

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