hi all after much attempting to organise meetings (and consistently failing), i think the best way will be to promote some form of discussion online about the future direction for Open Source development in schools. This has to be considered against current commercial developments of Linux, especially in the market of Internet Appliances (such as Equiinet and Navaho), which although they are Linux and use all those good Open Source applications, they do not have the Open Source flexibility in the final solution. So, what are the areas for development:- 1. Internet Services- currently the primary application with Squid, sendmail and Apache leading the way. Tools (such as those provided by Webmin or Phil Jones project) help administer Linux-based systems, what is the future direction here? 2. Content creation- a key area, how do we increase the quality of interaction and functionality for online resources without everyone using Frontpage Extensions or ASP. For example is PHP/MySQL the way forward and should a toolkit be developed for doing this? 3. School Administration- lots of positive noises about developing alternatives to SIMS/Connect etc What are the issues with resources/management/direction? All comments gratefully received. Malcolm -------------------------------------------- Dr Malcolm Herbert Head of Technology Research and Evaluation Becta Tel: 02476 847126 Mobile: 07801 62438 -------------------------------------------- "Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things." ...Governor George W. Bush, Jr., 11/30/96