OStatic

ZDNet's Chris Dawson has been thinking about Linux in the educational setting quite a bit lately, thanks to his school district's purchase of some new Intel Classmates, and the educational and financial benefits they bring.

Fueled by a piece he read in a recent openSUSE Education newsletter, he began pondering the ins and outs of open source software software adoption. Though he mentions Linux specifically, his thoughts transfer quite well to free software on closed platforms. Dawson asks if Linux is only for the poor -- if the economy wasn't in such a rough spot, would school districts (or businesses, or individuals) be moving to, or even seriously considering, open source platforms and alternatives?

It's a great question, and it's hard one for me to answer honestly. I know how I'd love to answer, and I know perfectly well that answer is unrealistic. Even if increased open source adoption in certain fields is primarily due to the dismal economy, it doesn't mean better financial times will lead to mass open source abandonment.

There are loads of terrific general Web publishing tools available these days, but some industries require specific features to meet unique needs. Omeka is a free and open source Web-based publishing platform designed with libraries, higher-level learning institutions, and museums in minds. Funded by philanthropic organizations and licensed under the GPL, Omeka makes launching an online exhibition as easy as launching a blog and is perfect for groups that don't have IT-specialists on the payroll.

Last week, Moodlerooms announced that it had teamed with Google to integrate the Google Apps for Education service into Moodle.

This allows students and faculty using the open source Moodle learning platform to access all of Google's educational tools and applications, as well as the Moodle system, with a single sign on. Even more significantly, it simplifies managing and maintaining network collaboration tools, and allows students to access the system and get working on any computer that has a browser.

Christopher Dawson has been thinking aloud about Linux in the classroom at his ZDNet Education blog. Dawson, the technology director of a school district in northern Massachusetts, had sixty new Classmate Convertible PCs fall into his hands, and wonders if the Linux-powered machines are a better option for the district.

The Linux Classmate PCs run Edubuntu with a customized version of Ubuntu's Netbook Remix user interface. Dawson is suitably impressed with the educational software included by default in Edubuntu and how well the school district's necessary Windows-based software runs in WINE. Intel says that the software stack offered on its Windows XP Classmates is similar to the Linux machines.

Unless there are serious issues raised in testing, Dawson plans to purchase the Edubuntu-powered Classmates. He admits the teachers are a little hesitant about the decision.

Speaking from experience, the adults are always hesitant. He needn't worry about the students.

It's no secret at this point a few of us at OStatic are passionate about the use and adoption of open source software in educational environments. Education is an area where the use of open source software feels so natural, but hardware lifecycles, the timing of support and license expirations, and budget crunches slow down the adoption process for many educational institutions.

The Brazilian government officially embraced open source software in its schools, announcing it had selected Userful,Positivo, and ThinNetworks to supply 324,000 virtualized desktops in each of the country's municipalities. This is not only the largest deployment of virtualized desktops in the world -- it's also the largest single deployment of Linux desktops.

We talk a lot at OStatic about open source solutions in the classroom. In fact, just yesterday Kristin pointed to a recent article from the BBC discussing the strengths of open source software and the complexities associated with deploying it in an educational environment.

According to the BBC, Good teachers will always be looking to move forward but they are so busy that they are often conservative.

Datamation's Matt Hartley has a completely different take on why open source can't get a foothold in American classrooms, and he claims it's largely because teachers and school IT professionals are misinformation junkies.

Maybe it's personal bias, but a few of us here at OStatic have wondered why using open source software isn't a foregone conclusion in education.

The BBC has posted an insightful piece on open source software in schools that not only touches on the strengths of the software, but also the complexities of deploying it in these environments.

Yesterday the GNOME Foundation announced that Sugar Labs is coming onboard as part of GNOME's Advisory Board. Sugar Labs will be represented on the board by executive director Walter Bender.

HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source -- especially in larger enterprises. While large businesses are a major focus for HP -- and it has supported open source in other ways -- a smaller business line of open source products has been a long time coming.

HP is approaching this market with both fists flying. Wednesday, it announced two new open source products, geared to small businesses and educational institutions.

Last Thursday, the OLPC Special Interest Group (SIG) announced the availability of the Fedora Sugar Spin LiveCD. This release incorporates the Sugar Desktop Environment in to a Fedora liveCD.

It's an easy way to try out the Sugar environment and associated applications without touching your existing system.