[Gllug] Re: The BETT education exhibition at Olympia

[Chris Bell]

On Wed 11 Jan, Ben Fitzgerald wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Jan 11, 2006 at 10:01:45PM +0000, Chris Bell wrote:
> > 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.
> <snip>
> > 
> > http://www.schoolforge.org.uk
> > 
> > http://www.lamsinternational.com
> > 
> > http://www.trainingcamp.co.uk
> 
> I could be missing someting, but I can't see how www.trainingcamp.co.uk
> qualifies as open source. It does provide (amongst many others) LPI
> training. None of the menu items work and the site is flash (arrrrrgh!).
> 
   It was at least offering Linux Training, far more than most other stands
were offering. Someone else was amazed at the prices being quoted, and
agreed that huge savings could be made by using Open Source facilities.

> How come you say the government wants 10-15 year contracts but is
> cracking down on lock-in contracts? Surely the former isn't far from the
> latter, given the rapid pace of change in the IT h/w industry.
> 
   I wrote "they have started to look into stories of lock-in contracts,
especially for software", not that they are doing anything about them, and
"I expressed surprise, so this was repeated to me."

> The picture you paint of government policy sounds grim for kids and
> schools. The fixed term contract that covers nearly everything seems
> like a sure-fire way for schools to pay over the odds in what should be
> a buyers market, given the plummeting cost of h/w and the option of free
> s/w.
> 
  Yes.

> Still, can't expect government to be up to speed on this. Pity they are
> centralising policy by forcing schools to buy products in a fixed way,
> though. Tony + Co are not best placed to impliment IT in schools in
> Hull!
> 
   I spent some time speaking to an ex-headmaster on the University of Hull
stand. He agreed with my views on Open Source. He has recently resigned from
his job as headmaster because he had to spend almost all of his time reading
government instructions, rules, and regulations.

> That is just MHO! :-)
> 
> Ben.
> 
   That is NOT just YOUR honest opinion, but more people's views need to be
expressed where they have a chance of being heard (even if not understood).

-- 
Chris Bell

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