[nzlug] OSS in Nz schools

[Daniel Lawson]

First of all, great ideas. I've wanted to do this for years. I've even
tried to do it, but never really had the time. And while I do think it's
a great idea, I see that there are some problems:


> Linux is great. I love it but still need a lots of work (+money) to
> make it useful for the corporate level or schools (500+ users, 10+
> servers, management features/applications).
>

Linux on servers in schools isn't a problem. Linux on desktops is. And
the management features aren't the killer - it's the thousands of
software titles schools use, especially primary schools, that will not
work on linux and will never be ported. Management systems exist
already. New Zealand focused reader and maths software doesn't.

There is also massive resistance to using tools like openoffice. I
didn't really follow the original thread covering this, but speaking
from experience teachers - and fundamentally anyone who has trained on
one piece of software and sees a computer only as a tool, not as an
interest - don't care enough to change, especially when what they are
used to /is being provided by the Ministry of Education at no effective
cost to them/

That's a massive thing to combat, and it's precisely why MS enters into
high-volume low-rate academic and educational discounts.  Openoffice
being free makes no difference to a school who doesn't have to pay for
it. You might find that the Ministry might care, but only if it can be
shown to have no impact.

Also, out of curiosity, why did you throw the "10+ server" figure
round?  Isn't one of linux's benefits that you need fewer servers to do
the same thing? The majority of schools in NZ would need fewer than 5
servers, and most could get by with one or two. I'm not saying you
shouldn't aim for the sky, but I suspect the bigger schools are going to
have much more vested interest in MS solutions - such as the three MS
trained engineers they have in their fulltime staff - and aren't going
to be as likely to budge.   Target this for smaller schools with no
permanent IT staff and you might have a shot.

> What we can do? Lets form a company. Spend a year to convert a Linux
> distribution and separate applications into a coherent OS/application
> package. Develop a well working management interface and put all into
> a box. Fortunately the government of NZ is open for the "in house"
> development and the Open Source Solutions. On that way we can help the
> OSS movement, make NZ a better place and make a good money for us :-)
> And I am not joking now! If you want to do something really serious
> and you have time (money) just drop me an e-mail (farago at orcon.net.nz).

The NZ Ministry of Education has licensed Novell OES for use in schools.
This is an enterprise grade linux-based system with full desktop
management and integration, server management, patch and package
management, etc.  No, it's not "in house", nor is it OSS, but it's very
definitely not MS, and it's already in use and available.

This doesn't mean doing something new and native isn't an option, but
you didn't mention Novell at all so I assumed it wasn't on your radar.
You'll need to be aware of it if you want to continue. Whatever you come
up with has to be better than Novell (by some sensible metrics), or
you're just creating another distro and another thing for people to have
to learn to support.

That said, locally developed and maintained is *probably* a good metric.
And if you can tie in decent desktop management for XP and later systems
(you'll need Samba 4 to be released for this), and a centralised
management system (via LDAP or whatever, this bit's a no brainer
really), you're most of the way there. 


Again, not meaning to run you down. I'd love to see this happen, and if
I had the time I'd help. I just don't fancy anyone's chances of pushing
this through seeing as there are Ministry sanctioned options (that have
better features than the MS equivalents in many cases) available *now*.
You might be about 3 years too late.