[Wolves] BBC Technology poll - vote now :-)

[stephen welch]

>I used to run an IT support function in the mid-90s, and frankly, I'd have 
>happily spent £500 a year to avoid the overhead of running software usage 
>audits to ensure we stayed legal. (OK, it wasn't a school, but a company 
>with a similar type scheme.)
>

I agree with you there but most would probably audit once a year anyway and 
if you can get away without paying £500 to ms by using Open source then that 
is certainly a consideration.  In any event you would need to keep on top of 
all the other software (in schools) that is in use.  In a Jolly by Golly 
sense that is a lot - most of it crap.

>I understand that MS offers massive discounts to schools, presumably on the 
>basis it really wants a generation of kids brought up familiar with MS 
>software.
>

Exchange 2007 license cost in brum =£90
Exchange 2007 client license cost in brum =£2

>
>To my mind, the biggest problem is the lack of companies looking to provide 
>IT services to schools based around Linux.

Big big let down by Becta here!  Their recent fair trading issue should be 
the tip of the kronenberg here.  They approve whiteboard suppliers for use 
in schools who don't supply drivers for linux!!  Fair?  Don't stop bashing 
Becta.

It would interesting to see how many to the fifteen or so Becta approved 
bidders for the Building Schools for the Future Project or the large academy 
bids actually utilise or readily supply other OS such as Linux.  I used to 
work for one and they certainly didn't.  You need a a lot of money to get 
through bidding processes like this and this sort of cash is not generated 
by flogging software that doesn't cost anything.

Chances are that
>the job is done by a teacher or an office support person, who "knows a bit 
>about computers", and anything more complex than that is referred to the 
>LEA, who have a standard recommendation :-(

Not so true in that most schools do have dedicated ICT support on either a 
full time or temp.  The quality is variable and the quality of advice 
sometimes constrained by the local council policies or there nexus.  
Ultimately the decision will rest with the school and they will normally go 
with what they know best (MS).
>
>OpenOffice have (for all their faults in other areas) done good things in 
>promoting companies who want to target the educational sector. The Linux 
>community has, in my view, never really taken on the sector seriously.
>
True in some senses but things like moodle and Joomla are a big in quite a 
few local councils and a lot of there systems run linux, et al but nearly 
all schools (the users) use MS and until people in general start using open 
source more frequently than MS then the scales will be tipped only one way.

Stephen
>
>M.
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>Chris Maggs wrote:
>>Never thought of it like that, but I suppose it depends on the cost
>>per PC. For example, if they have 10 PCs that have something other
>>than Windows on them, then that totals £500 a year wasted (assuming
>>£50 per PC)
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>
>>On 26/10/2007, Mark Harrison <Mark at yourpropertyexpert.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Chris Maggs wrote:
>>>
>>>>Just after I voted, this story popped up!
>>>>
>>>>http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7063716.stm
>>>>
>>>>Great read, and I was outraged by the following section :
>>>>
>>>>[QUOTE]
>>>>But a spokesman for Becta said the problem was that Microsoft required
>>>>schools to have licences for every PC in a school that might use its
>>>>software, whether they were actually doing so or running something
>>>>else.
>>>>[END QUOTE]
>>>>
>>>>Chris
>>>>
>>>>
>>>Out of interest, why were you outraged? It's not an unreasonable offer
>>>for MS to make:
>>>
>>>"Look, Mr. IT Manager, either you keep accurate records of which PCs
>>>have which applications, and work out the bill, or you just pay us £50
>>>[1] per PC per year and you can install any applications you want".
>>>
>>>[1] I've no idea what the figure actually is - the £50 is plucked out of
>>>thin air.
>>>
>>>
>>>I don't use Linux because I have some "moral horror" at MS - I use it
>>>because it's cheaper, faster and better.
>>>
>>>
>>>Mark
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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