With budgets being what they are, I'm seriously looking at making a gradual
jump to Linux and open source. I've been using Linux for years, but it's a
whole different ball game trying to bring it to people who fear change of
any kind.
Are there any resources that you can recommend aimed at K-12 Linux usage?
Thanks.
+++Jeff
On 11/21/08 10:58 AM, "Inman, Alex" <Alex.Inman@whitfieldschool.org> wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> I must admit, at a time like this, I am glad we have already gone
> through any learning curve associated with Linux and open source.
> However, necessity is the mother of invention and a catalyst for change.
> For our community, Linux was the only option for 1:1 because we didn't
> have 1:1 in the budget and the value outweighed the alternative of not
> changing and staying with the labs.
>
> I have talked to schools looking at two different ways to maintain or
> increase service and lower costs. Two big pushes are open source and
> virtualization. Virtualization requires more SAN and server but about
> 80% less than it used to. Thus, even people with reasonably small SANs
> can get into the Desktop Virtualization game now.
>
> Also, combine Linux and Virtualization and you've got one cost effective
> solution! You've got to dig a little but VMware will even help you
> tweak Linux clients to run Windows applications cleanly on them using
> ThinApp. That means you can have your cake and eat it too (aside from
> proprietary software costs.)
>
> Take care,
> Alex
>
> Alex Inman
> Director of Technology
> Whitfield School
> St. Louis, MO
> 314.434.5141
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for independent school educators
> [mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Steve Taffee
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:05 AM
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Economic Recession and Tech Budgets
>
> Hello everyone -
>
> I am curious to know if and how the economic recession is affecting your
> technology budgets and programs for the coming year.
>
> We are re-examining a number of our practices including email
> (FirstClass versus Google), productivity suites (MS Office versus Open
> Office and Google Docs), databases (FileMaker client versus FileMaker
> web access), web servers (hosted site versus our
> own Drupal server). These are good things to examine, anyway, and we
> would have done so. But there's no doubt that the economy has built a
> fire under us to look at these sooner rather than later.
>
> On the hardware front, we'll be purchasing more RAM to nurse computers
> along for at least a year beyond their normal retirement schedule
> (typically 3 years for laptops, 4 years for desktops), and will think
> twice about CPU-sucking upgrades to
> applications and OS that we would normally roll out on an annual basis.
>
> Our administration has heard from other schools that they, too, are
> retrenching by delaying hiring, minimizing tuition increases, setting
> aside more funds for tuition assistance, and - cutting tech budgets.
>
> So the challenge for us, perhaps others as well, is to keep moving
> forward with technology initiatives, to continue to provide great
> professional development, and not lose sight of "21st century" learning
> and teaching. Indeed, as an environmentalist I
> have often thought that much of the 21st century could well be marked by
> scarcity rather than the abundance we've grown so accustomed to.
>
> So once again my question to the group: how are you coping with the
> current situation as you plan for the coming year?
>
> s
>
> -----
> Treat each piece of paper as precious and reduce waste - don't print
> electronic documents.
> -----
> Steve Taffee 650.470.7725 (office)
> Director of Technology 415.613.6684 (mobile)
> Castilleja School 650.326.8036 (fax)
> 1310 Bryant Street steve_taffee@castilleja.org
> Palo Alto, CA 94301 www.castilleja.org |
> taffee.edublogs.org
> Women Learning, Women Leading
> -------
>
>
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> [ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
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Jeffrey Mesch
Director of Technology
Father Ryan High School
Nashville, TN
Direct: 615-777-7526
Mobile: 615-207-8068
E-mail: meschj@fatherryan.org
AIM: jeffmesch
Skype: jeffmesch
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