Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (71 mails)

[James Tremblay aka SLEducator <fxrsliberty@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Grainge, Derek [Webmaster] wrote:
> James,
>
> A few comment on your costs from someone in a private school in the UK, and 
> someone who has downloaded and used both opensuse and suse-edu.  I have 
> lurked in this group for some time now, watching developments.
>
> We use a variety of platforms and desktops including PCs Macs and Linux, 
> servers which are mostly Windows, a few Linux, and a lot of these little Asus 
> eees.  We have about 1000 devices plugged into our network plus about 400 
> belonging to students:  we are a boarding school and students are resident 
> all term.
>
> Our chosen MIS is from a small company Isams which sells to our particular 
> market; similarly our web software Firefly.Net. Both happen to be based 
> around Windows Server and IIS.  We chose them for functionality not cost.
>
> You assume private schools are penniless.   There are a lot of very rich 
> schools especially in the East of the USA who might disagree with you - e.g. 
> Deerfield?   Here in the UK we charge hefty fees - our fee income is well in 
> excess of £20 million and that doesn't take account of commerce or 
> fundraising. We have approximately 900 students, mostly boarding.    There 
> are a lot of schools much better off than we are.
>
> We can afford licences.  However 'Microsoft Select' and other volume discount 
> schemes apply to servers as well as stations and I just don't recognise the 
> Windows server price structures you mention.  We pay annual fees which are 
> peanuts in comparison. We have access to server, development and application 
> install sets and we declare the volumes used annually.
>
> Now, what do you mean by a private school?   I think in the US a public 
> school is one operated by a local district and a private school is run as a 
> business or a charity independently.   This mimics what happens in the UK, 
> with the exception that (Brits being Brits) private schools are called Public 
> Schools :-)
>
> I think the openSIS project is an enormously important development, it's 
> something schools have been discussing and trying half-heartedly to do 
> themselves for years, and at some point I will evaluate it again in 
> comparison with Isams.   But if you're pitching for business (so to speak) on 
> a cost reduction basis you'll put off schools who think your costings don't 
> quite add up.
>
> I'm not criticising, I hope I'm helping sort out where the market lies.
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Derek Grainge
> Webmaster and systems developer
> Wellington College
>
>
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>
>   
Derek,
You response was exactly what I was looking for and the reason the posts
title has a question mark. I wanted to know what everyone thought. As
you suggest, in the US, "private schools" are generally run by a
religious\charitable organizational, or the most recent twist, a society
of parents disgruntled with the government sponsored education programs,
which we call "Charter Schools" . These two types of institutions are
generally small and not funded by tuition from a large demographic of
parents , rather they are funded by the local families whom want an
education for their children that is outside the constraints of the
government mandated\funded curriculum. 

openSUSE - Education, is aimed at the k-12 market (aka primary schools).
In this market,  US government funded schools (aka public schools) are
"strapped for cash". You mention the "Microsoft Select" program which I
believe has a minimum number of "seats" requirement that most US schools
never meet. Why Micro$oft decides that we must pay them more to cover a
machine we purchased with Windows pre-installed  is beyond me, moreover,
why we pay it is confounding, why we pay it in perpetuity...... My
reference to $1000.00 per server is based on the "channels" education
discount which is how most US schools acquire their licensing. My
numbers are real, as they are pulled from a recent set of quotes I
received to implement Pearson's PowerSchool. Your numbers sound like
your system is fairly close to a one to one model, this is only a dream
for 90% of US schools and the savings on licensing we generate can be
used to offset this pitiful condition. I \ we envy your financial
situation, but only a select few US schools can claim to achieve it and
unlike other countries, our "government" funding is based primarily on
the local town\city\county tax base. Therefore, education in the US is
largely an unfunded federal mandate. My former school district had a 13
million dollar budget with less than 3 million coming from Federal and
State funds. When a community is faced with drawing most of it's budget
for education from the pockets of the local families, it's easy to see
that a student in Watts, Los Angeles, California would get a much
different education than one in Beverly Hills, California.
Thanks

-- 
James Tremblay
openSIS Product Specialist
http://www.os4ed.com
e-mail james "at" os4ed.com
e-mail sleducator "at" opensuse.org
CNE 3,4,5
MCSE w2k
CLE in training
Registered Linux user #440182
http://en.opensuse.org/education


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