On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 08:38, Tim Holmes wrote:
Non-Tech users still have a very
hard time with it. My Dad tried it and gave up... :-(
[Tim Holmes]
Yes!! I agree -- I cannot imagine trying to switch our teachers or
students here at the school over to linux, even if all the needed apps
did run (like our gradebook and school management software)
Your imagination must not be very good. Look at what the k12ltsp project
is doing and the success they have had at converting schools to
Fedora-based Linux and thin client terminals. Their main web page is
always out of date, but look here: http://www.k12ltsp.org/phpwiki/
and at their mail list archives. Everyone seems to agree that the money
saved can be put to much better educational uses.
I don't think that just because he's doing something differently that
it is wrong. In fact, his slow and conservative approach could be very
effective as well. He says they already have equipment that he's
trying to replace. It's the replacement that will be slow. In other
words, it doesn't seem cost is a factor to compare the methods. Both
will be low cost. I do suggest, however, that kids pick up on things
faster than adults and he might want to consider which he is trying to
be gentle to. Nevertheless, "cold turkey" is never a wise approach in
a production environment.