How easy do you think your job is going to be when >Microsoft continues on their current plans to tie software >tightly to each piece of hardware.
Very good point indeed. With schools and governors and parents and teachers all looking at the financial implications of ICT in their areas, wouldn't it be interesting to cost the TCO of the .NET initiative- even as compared to existing Microsoft network implementations? The MS .NET idea will absolutely kill any ideas of there being a TCO issue with Linux, even considering all the points raised so far. Linux as a total network solution- managed *cough* or unmanaged ;-) is still in the best interests of the nation as a whole and in particular schools and not only because of its "price". The fact that XP will now make software and hardware "proprietary" elements of the same coin means that it will be expensive to set-up a XP scheme but also mean that licensing becomes more of a burden, not less of a burden or expense. Linux provides great flexibility in licensing (the best) and the source code to boot. Open source/free software means that schools would have control not only over licensing (what licensing?) but also over the actual code to the OS and all applications associated with it. If this isn't a financially victorious argument, then it most certainly is an ethical one. If schools wish to tie themselves up in the new MS scheme of licensing (and the existing one) and limit not only their freedom in software but also their freedom in hardware, then there is something fundamentally wrong with the way that the school is run and the IT knowledge of the teachers in question- not of the open source solutions offered. The real issue is not which is best (though that is also a lost cause where Windows is concerned) but which offers freedom to innovate and expand and utilise. Linux does, and Windows doesn't. Again, my humble opinion- and that isn't to say I am right and all else wrong, its just something I've observed and studied! Paul ----------- "Because we are successful, we're allowed to innovate" Bill Gates, .TV Interview How did they get successful then?
participants (1)
-
paul.munro1