FOSS Rulz @ Albany Senior High
p2pnet view Open Source:- “Cutting through the predictable complaints — ‘But the world belongs to Microsoft’!” Mark Osbourne, deputy principle at Albany Senior High School in Aukland, New Zealand, took the open road.
He “installed Ubuntu desktops and Mandriva servers, and set students up with Open Source applications including OpenOffice, Mahara, and Moodle. The school’s network allows connections not just from its own systems, but (with appropriate security measures) from outside hardware as well — students have reportedly connected everything from Macs to the Playstation Portable.”
So says Ostatic, pointing out “the national government subsidizes Microsoft products, and pays up whether the software is actually in use or not.
“A fait accompli, as Osbourne notes: ‘The brilliance of Microsoft’s business model is they get the same amount of money regardless of who uses it’.”
The school “has the proud distinction of being the first state-funded senior high school to exclusively use open source software for every need,” says IT Wire, continuing:
“Or maybe that should be almost everything — the school has one PC that runs Windows XP as the business manager loves MYOB. But, Osborne told his audience, that would be disappearing soon too. The school also uses two proprietary Google applications but since those are accessed through Firefox, Osborne is willing to make the compromise until substitutes are found.”
Accordoing to Osborne, in keeping with the principle of open source, there are no classrooms, only “flexible learning commons.”
A total of 450 students started the year in 2010 and this is projected to increase to 1400, says the story.
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ostatic – New Zealand School Shows Microsoft the Door, January 25, 2010
IT Wire – Auckland: where a FOSS school is a reality, January 19, 2010
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