On Thu, 2006-04-13 at 02:59 +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
Apparently LXF readers want to know the buying practices of UK educational institutions; their patterns of OS and software
I'd be interested to know where and how such ""information"" is sourced and collated, as I fail to believe that to be their primary interest.
Sorry - that was subtle sarcasm at the person who commissioned the article. As he isn't subscribed to the list, perhaps I should have begun the sentence "my commission demands that I write about...." As to what LXF readers want to read about, I imagine that this list contains a fair cross section of Linux SomethingOrOther readers, though admittedly with far more knowledge of FOSS in education ;-) Reader interests in FOSS use in particular industries tend to be 1. technical (geek) 2. political - why choose Free vs proprietary 3. practical - what worked and what didn't I'm sure the magazines are interested in hearing more about what readers _actually_ want - at least in theory ;)
Campus-wide policy is held such that all staff PCs and student PCs will run a windows OS, because external examiner guidelines as well as lecturer's preferences are to use MS-products --- for no other reason that that's what they were "trained" and used to using.
At least, if that was the reason, they can be re-trained :-/
But the Faculty of Technology is different in that they do to an extent [snip] etc. But it is still a very MS-dominant University.
From speaking to OSS-Watch, it seems that there's a lot to feel reasonably cheerful about :) And as Ian Lynch says elsewhere in this thread, change is a slow
Well, many are - but by no means all. And all seem to have some FOSS. In fact I bet Southampton are running /some/ Free Software (eg Exim) somewhere. process, but it is happening. :-)
I think the Faculty of Technology is releasing two things:
1. That Linux is a consideration for prospective students joining the University.
2. The costs of its use within education as a teaching aid, etc., is a serious viable alternative.
Awareness of FOSS is spreading even to the trailing edge ;-)
I'm also interested in what needs to be done to change things?
Slapping the government around with a wet fish ought to do it. There's not a lot you _can_ do to change things. What is it you're wanting to change, exactly? People don't _like_ change, Richard. They react badly to it; treat it with disdain and contempt. Seemingly switching over to Linux, albeit gradual or otherwise is almost always going to annoy people, such that they'll see it as a ramned-down-your-throat alternative to Microsoft.
People don't like change for change's sake - the process must be managed properly. In my day job (in the voluntary sector) training is the key part of our successful implementations :-)
Whilst having one or two schools doing 'interesting' things is a nice thing to do -- do you really think that's going to change much? Sure, there's the argument of: If you don't try, you'll never know, etc., etc. But ultimately there needs to be more ralling at the Council level (if you're talking about compulsory education) or God only knows where for higher education.
Indeed - although BECTa have yet to reply to m questions, and BECTa's website is lamentable when it comes to mentioning FOSS solutions, it seems that BECTa are actually quite taken with FOSS - I hope we see some practical fall-out from this interest soon, but I won't hold my breath, just in case ;-) Thank you for all of your input, Thomas. Nice to see the traffic on this list, too :) -Richard