Great questions! You are right about these questions yielding different
responses depending on the context or package but let me take a stab at
some generalizations, having gone through a lot of it here over the last
3 years.
Alex Inman
Director of Technology
Whitfield School
St. Louis, MO
314.434.5141
Our questions remain (and I think must be answered on a case by case
basis):
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1) What sort of support could we get for various Open Source packages
(and at what cost)?
**This clearly depends. Several large packages have support companies
around them. Linux has Redhat and Novell, SugarCRM has a supported
version. Moodle can be supported by MoodleRooms and several other
companies. You pay for support but the support cost is easily offset
with the front-end software savings (though there are certainly
exceptions to this as well).
However, a few minutes in the support community forums will give you an
excellent idea of the community support for various products. For
example, Moodle's community support is incredible! Another good way to
seek support is simply to Google a specific question about a product.
You may find several regional communities having developed their own
support network that steps outside the project managers may be the best
support.
Anyway you cut it, though, you need to see what kind of support
community exists and weigh that heavily against the importance of that
software on your organization
2) For a given product, what training is available for our staff?
**Yup...it depends. Moodle partners offer training. Other
products...not so much. I too see this as a need and have been seeking
people with those skills for a consulting group I work with. It is
still pretty much up to the schools.
3) How do I answer security concerns raised about open source products?
What legitimizes an open source product as non-malicious and stable?
Just about any Open Source software I see comes with disclaimers in
which the authors abdicate any responsibility for problems resulting
from using their software. This is particularly important since we are
handling sensitive student data that must not be compromised.=20
**Yes, this truly is a matter of comfort. I have found most of our
Linux based products to be quite secure. However, we are not using Open
Source products for SIS. This is more because of concerns regarding
support as discussed above. This is obviously a major operational item
for schools. I know some people deeply committed to Centre (open source
SIS) but I haven't made that move.
4) When buying paid software, schools often look at the financial
stability of a company to predict the longevity of a products life (e.g.
we don't buy products from companies near bankruptcy). Can one gain any
assurances about the longevity of an open source product?=20
**Again, I suggest you look at the viability of the community. If all
of the forum posts are answered by two people, I would be concerned,
unless it is a single use, small application. The other thing I have
learned the hard way is to look at user concerns with version upgrades.
Is there an update channel for the product? How many revisions have
there been. I would not be so concerned with the revision number. I've
seen many great apps running at version 0.9. However, how many
revisions have there been, what did they address and what did users
think of the upgrade process.
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5) Will the time and training commitment to adapt to a Linux
environment justify any savings?
**On the Linux side, I would say yes! I was extremely surprised with
the speed and ease with which my staff picked up Linux. No one on our
staff was a Linux user when we switched to Linux. (Yes, I am fully
aware of how crazy that was.) However, it really is easy to learn
because so much troubleshooting support exists and configuration files
are text based instead of hidden .dll files that can't be easily read
nor modified. The switch to Linux is easier than the switch from Mac to
Windows or vice versa.
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The benefits of using Linux not only involve software savings, but also
potential hardware savings. Linux distributions consistently run much
better on older hardware with less memory and processor speed.
**This is certainly true. We are running Vista Aero caliber effects in
SUSE on hardware that couldn't dream of running Vista, let alone Vista
with Aero effects. For us, the limitation is simply the resilience of
student laptops. The guts are capable of doing a tremendous amount of
Linux work that greatly exceeds what they would be capable of in the
Windows world.
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Great topic, Joe; please keep this discussion public or share responses!
=20
Kevin Eaton
=20
---------------------------------------------------
Kevin Eaton
Director of Technology
The Pennington School
Phone: (609) 737-6140
Fax: (609) 737-7920
Email: keaton@pennington.org
Web:
www.pennington.org
---------------------------------------------------
>>> Joe Merricks <MERRICKSJ@hargrave.edu> 2/28/2008 12:51 PM >>>
I am a member of a committee at my school, Hargrave Military Academy,
that is examining the question of "What next?" My question to you is:
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Are any schools in the process, or considering migrating to Linux? Both
on the server side and the desktop side? If so, would sharing your
reasons, experiences, Linux distro, etc. I a m particularly interested
in schools in the Mid-Atlantic area. You may reply off-list to me or on
list. I am sure that there are others that may be interested in this
thread.
=20
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Joe Merricks
Math Instructor
Hargrave Military Academy
200 Military Drive
Chatham, VA 24531
merricksj@hargrave.edu=20
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