a nice little open source story
Anyone who’s a parent today is aware of the constant stream of requests for funds and resources that follow students home from school. Ten bucks here for a field trip here, a request for pencils there…a never ending process to pick up the slack that municipal funding doesn’t cover. So, when I see a story about a school managing to come up with a way to save money and make better use of existing resources, I’m thrilled.
This story offers a great solution from an Australian secondary school extends the life of older computers without the horsepower to run Windows Vista, and would otherwise be abandoned by installing Kubuntu on them and using them as access terminals for the school library’s web-enabled card catalogue.
The school’s deriving several benefits from this program. First, they’re saving money by extending the useful life of old resources, delaying the need to buy new machines and the Windows licenses that come with them. Second, they’re saving time and headaches, as the Kubuntu kiosk mode much more secure and easier to maintain. Less time is spent uninstalling contraband windows games and fixing trashed registries, and more time spent on more productive tasks.
And it’s Linux. ‘Nuff said.
My kids’ school district could probably learn something here. Maybe I’ll write a letter to the school board…
