________________ Reply Header ________________ Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Thinking Ahead.... Author: "paul.munro1" Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 13:50:28 +0000 In reply to Paul Munro's points about training and support. And John Wilson on thin clients. Paul and John are right to be concerned about training and support. We must be sure that early adopters have a good experience as they are the best allies for the cause. Part of my strategy is to transfer software licence fees into support and training making use of government targeted funding as well. I know many schools who run Windows systems with very limited technical support (Not without some trauma at times!) so perhaps we can convert an apparent weakness into a strength. If we start with Internet and thin client servers, these can be managed remotely to a very large extent. We move towards fully managed services (a government priority) but at much more reasonable costs than the Windows based systems. I already have several sites, secondary and primary willing to try Linux on the desktop but that doesn't mean anyone else has to do it. The snag with just sticking to the server is that the savings are far less. Schools can buy Windows 2000 server for 130 ukp. OEM 2000 workstation is around £100 so using thin clients instead of new macines with a M$ desktop OS makes a big difference. We say to the customer that they just use the system, they shouldn't have to do much in the way of management. One of the main arguments for thin clients is reduced TCO. Citrix Systems use the argument to charge 130 ukp per machine in licences! And that's on top of the Windows and client access licenses. The savings in software and hardware should easily offset any *additional* support costs. Don't forget Windows needs support too and in many cases doesn't get much because all the budget is absorbed by the licence fees. The best commercial argument for using open source is because it frees funds for services and other products. I have just been telling Hitachi that they need to push Linux for their interactive whiteboards because if the school saves on the software licences they can afford to buy their product. The penny seemed to drop! I agree that thin clients are not suitable for every application but they are suitable for what many people do most of the time. (RISC principle) Music and media studies can have their specialist machines but I have secondary school quite happy to provide Star Office to the English department via thin client because its the only way they can afford another IT room and most of what they want to do is word processing and web stuff. The client machines are sitting in a cupboard about to be junked because they can't run Windows 98 sensibly. I think we have to get away from the idea that every machine has to be as powerful as possible just in case. A few yes. PS. If we want to have the next meeting in the Midlands I might be able to arrange a venue since I am based inTamworth. regards, Ian