back to article Microsoft pleads ignorance on 'one interweb per child' pork barrel

Microsoft says it doesn't know anything about the government's plan to deliver home broadband to every child in the country, despite claims from the schools minister that he is putting pressure on it to drop prices. Contacted by the Reg following Jim Knight's interview in the Guardian's political pages on Friday, a Microsoft …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    if

    if the parents are interested in supervising their childrens education then they're already doing it.

  2. Dazed and Confused

    Obviously you need to make affordable

    Surely if the goal is to make it affordable, then it would make more sense to mandate the use of FREE software. Currently children are being forces to use Windows at school for their ICT classes, because that is what the school use.

    If the government want to reduce the cost to allow every school aged child to have a better chance then one area where they could reduce cost would be by not requiring so much tax payers money to be handed over to a highly profitable company. About 10% of the cost of an entry level system is paying for the Windows license. If this was discarded, 10% more PCs could be provided in schools. Loads more parents could afford to "legally" run systems at home for their kids to use.

    If Microsoft want to be allowed to market their products at the country's youth, then surely they should be paying for the privilege.

  3. TeeCee Gold badge
    Happy

    Thank you MS.

    Typical government. Make an eye-catching announcement, preferably with a Minister beaming at the cameras. Rely on all the slightly surprised affected parties to mumble something along the lines of being "cautiously optimistic". Bingo, positive headlines in the Red-tops (no offence) and you are Seen To Be Doing Something.

    Only takes one party involved (in this case MS) to say "first we've heard of it" to expose said initiative as the piece of vacuous, unfounded spin it is though........

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Yippeee

    The Wife and I pay for my broadband by working , but not doubt, those who prefer to do sod all except watch tv and scrounge of the state will get it free....

    Rant Rant Rant

  5. Smell My Finger

    Another asinine plan

    I know it will matter to Reg readers that only the most ideologically correct provider should be doing this but it will never substitute for the far that the Internet is 99% total crap. It's child-poverty that leads to a lifetime of low achievement and has got sod all to do with the crap on the Internet.

  6. Steve Renouf
    Pirate

    Yabbut

    Of course even if this comes off, they'll probably still make the same mistakes they're making now - teaching kids how to use M$ software products instead of teaching them how to use computers...

  7. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Stop

    Feasible?

    I assume the intention is to upgrade every home in the land to an ADSL line as the base connection - so what about kids in rural areas without ADSL-capable lines? And what about the burgeoning ADSL subscriber business that will take a nasty knock when the Gov forces it to give up the large chunk of baseline customers? Does this mean that all kiddies will get a PC from schools or are we signing up to the One Laptop Per Child program, both of which will affect highstreet and online sales of PC systems? Does ANYONE in NoobLabour actually have the CAPABILITY to think things through before they make wild pronouncements? Somehow I doubt it.

  8. Karl Lattimer

    If^2

    If the education system put more emphasis on moral and social guidance of children than technology for the sake of technology (e.g. monitoring a childs education?!?!WTF!), the upshot factor of this would be;

    A generally more respectful society

    Better attendance to class

    Better attentiveness in class

    Etc...

    The government did themselves a disservice by pulling 'God' from schools in every way other than studying the dogma of 'all' religions in 'Religious Education', the whole Christianity thing is a cheap and effective way of teaching morality to children (I still don't agree with a huge amount of it but hey! its cheap!)... Now they're combating the upshot of pulling God with the ASBO and spending a lot of money on pointless technology projects which are intended to provide a more inclusive classroom?

    Go back to the drawing board guv, and try and come up with an educational plan which doesn't make teenage boys compete at who is the most stupid!

  9. Dazzer

    Child poverty has been solved?

    Given that there are parents struggling to put food on their children's tables and clothes on their back I would suggest these idiot ministers put the country's resources into something a bit more worthwhile. Especially as the cheapest of cheap broadband packages are already fairly affordable.

  10. Simon Greenwood
    Thumb Down

    Thought not necessary

    We're at that phase in the government's cycle where they can make bold statements like this as they are looking at the election that is due next year. It will take a good 18 months to cost and implement the idea, by which time Labour will either be out of power or basking in the warm uphills of the golden age of a fourth term brought about by the dynamic, adventurous policies of Chairman Brown *cough*. If the former, then the Conservatives will have to pick up the pieces and struggle to fit it in with their undoubtedly rock solid policies on education. If the latter, it's a bit of squirming and a deal with someone for a cheap PC and cable modem. Either way, it goes off in a half arsed fashion, the have-nots become the sort-of-haves and yet another education 'initiative' fails due to the short-termism of politically motivated policies that can't see beyond election day.

  11. Steve Evans

    Oh what a surprise...

    HM Gov shows once more that it really doesn't know what it's doing, or what's going on in the big bad world.

    Given that you can go down to PCWorld and pick up a perfectly internet capable machine, complete with all your office and internet proggies for £200 (Asus Eee), it's the cost of the broadband that's going to become the issue. So don't nag M$, we don't need them, turn your attention on BT's pricing and the cable co's who haven't invested any cash in connecting more towns for IIRC about 10 years.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best way to get kids into Linux ...

    is to rack up the eye candy ... My 11yo son has seen Ubuntu with a Compiz desktop running on our 6-year old machine with wobbly windows, cube desktops and the like, and is now telling all his friends.

    They've started telling the ICT staff Windows is "boring" as a result. I await the letter from the school about "syllabus drift[1]" with interest.

    [1] like the one I got because I taught my son proper algebra, rather then the dumbed down stuff which passes in todays society ....

  13. Nick Pettefar

    My filthy hormonal teenager

    Managed to achieve O-Level Microsoft. Failed his maths though, idiot. The sixth-form college offer A-Level Microsoft as a subject but even he, through his angst, sex and booze-ridden teenage excuse for a brain can see that it's not worth much. He used to repair the PCs at school for other classmates and teachers as he had managed to glean a smattering of real computer knowledge from me, somehow or other. Sex sometimes intrudes into his World of Warcraft time, as do sleep and perhaps occasional college work. The true genius of education would forbid children from any connection to the Internet until they are 18. As would any decent parent.

  14. Gareth
    Go

    Like the US Rural Utilities Service?

    There's some similarities between this program and America's Rural Electrification schemes which began in the 30s - the government subsidised power companies to run power lines where they'd previously been deemed unprofitable, much like the current situation with broadband lines.

    The result was that private businesses followed the public lines in and rural America kept up development rather than dying.

    Having said that, you can't waste your life away on electricity downloading porn and looking at stupid YouTube videos.

    In response to Mr Lattimer, although teaching morality is a controversial subject, since moving to the States I've noticed that there is hardly any petty crime here compared to the chav-infested streets of the UK - so perhaps putting the fear of God into the proles isn't such a bad idea;

    "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." (Seneca the Younger, 5 BC - 65 AD)

  15. Rob Clive
    Unhappy

    Try Training

    "We are achieving nothing like the impact that we should from this technology," sayeth the man from BECTA.

    ... that's because you don't provide any training. As a school governor I saw all the teachers at the school given laptops microstuffed with software but no real idea how to use 'em. Result: it's a glorified typewriter. Try some training rather than paying monopoly prices for new software and you might get impact.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    3Rs-holes

    Seems to me that most parents would rather have well paid teaches. manageable class sizes and kids who can spell their own name when they go to secondary school as opposed to these dicks discussing home internet access. Next thing you know the Department of Schools, Children and Families (whatever the f*** that actually means) will be picking up the phone to OLPC and trying to give all the kids in the UK that POS!

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hormonal teenagers

    "Sex sometimes intrudes into his World of Warcraft time..."

    Surely a first?

  18. Ros
    Stop

    A good job it's hot air

    What is the point of this in any case, when libraries are being closed, the amount spent on books goes down every year, and kids are leaving school less literate than when they started?

    http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/libraries.html

    Is Gordon Brown hoping that the next generation will be too ill-educated to read all the bad headlines he's generating?

  19. Steve Renouf
    Boffin

    @ Anonymous Coward

    "Best way to get kids into Linux ... "

    Me like Ubuntu too!

    "[1] like the one I got because I taught my son proper algebra, rather then the dumbed down stuff which passes in todays society ...."

    Could do the same for English (reading, writing and speaking!) too

    Even the basic arithmetic they teach? these days is crap! Teach them the "Trachtenberg System" for gods sake!

    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachtenberg_system">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachtenberg_system</a>

  20. Andrew

    Computer Literacy

    Some people seem to be slightly confused here, this is not a plan to make more people highly qualified software engineers or anything. It is simply to improve general computer literacy. In general terms that means using Word, Excel and a web browser. Knowing things like ctrl+c copies something and ctrl+p will paste it etc. Just general computer skills.

    Now in the job market increasing numbers of Jobs have requirements like ability to use Word or Excel. Right now the ability to use Microsoft products 'is' computer literacy in effect. I would wager it would be very hard to find a non-IT specific job which required knowledge of Open Office or Linux for instance. Even if they did both of them try to replicate the grammar of use of Microsoft products very closely so it makes no difference in the end.

    Now I dont want this to come across as a Pro-microsoft rant, i'm sure people will respond is a suitable rabid manner which shames all Linux users anyway but that can't be helped, but people just have to face facts. What do people in business want, they want people who are computer literate by which they mean can use Word and Excel.

  21. Christian Cook
    Coat

    @Andrew

    "Knowing things like ctrl+c copies something and ctrl+p will paste it etc."

    Erm, Andrew, do you find that your printer's tray is full of lots of pages, each with a single random word printed on it?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BECTA chairman identifies deficiencies of government e-envoy

    Isn't the BECTA chairman the former government "e-envoy" who came up with a lot of this stuff in the first place?

    It's better than Santayana - becasue he gets to rewrite history.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Keeping it affordable

    Seconded the suggestion of the EeePC, especially as they're going to be available through RM so education types will have a supplier they're used to. (BTW, PCWorld are selling the 2G - the 4G is much more use and only £20 more, got mine from Toys'r'us...). The thing will run Compiz too if you want the flashy desktop. Also works with 3's 3G dongle so cheap broadband (or good enough) with no need for a phone line. With volume discounts etc you could give kids a great machine with connectivity for about £200-£250 and £10/month.

  24. Martyn
    Linux

    @Andrew

    "Knowing things like ctrl+c copies something and ctrl+p will paste it etc. Just general computer skills."

    Hmm, which OS is it where ctrl+p pastes the buffer then? Looks like you need the govt to give you free Broadband access at home :-)

  25. Andrew

    Whoops

    I noticed my hilarious mistake after posting. I'm sure theres dozens of people waiting to point it out in a similarly hilarious manner. Guess I was too busy leafing through the CV's of people who cannot use a computer to notice my mistake.

    Andrew

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a MS rant but .......

    Yes it is necessary that my kids can use MS products. But that doesn't mean that I have to have them on my systems.

    If the gov/school need them to use MS products then they'd better provide them with a machine to do it on.

    I suppose since our family income is slightly more than a tin of beans and a loaf of bread that they will be refusing to subsidise my connection whilst the chavs get it for nowt - that would be typical.

    The gov should be subsidising ADSL to remote areas - so that coverage is 100%. But connection to said ADSL should not be free. An Internet connection is a luxury (albeit a required on for the likes of us) not a necessity.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @Karl Latimer

    er maybe you think you're an American. Or that this is an American website. Or maybe you are in fact American and think that this story is about your country. As far as I am aware, Christian (C of E and Catholic) schools in England and Wales continue to be funded 100% by the taxpayer (as enshrined in the Education act of 1945 I think) and have always taught Christian morality in a Christian context, due to them being...er Christian.

    IT is certainly true that a common complaint on right-wing websites is about religious being taken out of the classroom - however they are referring to AMERICA where I believe they have a "constitution" which separates the church and state and this is why the second largest landowner in their country isn't the church of England. Or maybe I'm just being naive.

  28. Don Mitchell

    Turf

    America is behind in broadband coverage. I don't think it should be paid for by the government, but if they can help push its spread and catch us up with Europe and Asia, that would be good.

    Of course people immediately see this as an opportunity to evangelize the open-source religion. Windows is still a more sophisticated technology than Linux, and it's more practically useful for your child to learn to use the commercial standard. They might also like to play games, and please spare us the litany of lame open-source games.

    If you really want your kids to learn about computers, teach them to program. Get them a copy of Sedgewick's "Algorithms in C++". Download Visual Studio Express, which is free. And if they write a cool program, it will run on all their friends' computers, not just one the ones owned by a handful of bitter leftists who spell Microsoft with a "$".

    And if you really don't like Windows, buy them a Mac. Just don't waste their time with ersatz open source software, and don't inflict some half-ass anti-capitalist politics on them. It's not going to serve them well, especially if they really do get interested in computers and want to make a living at it.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Computer .ne. MS

    To the folks who say "Computing = Microsoft": Rubbish, in 2008 more than ever. Anything people have already learned wrt Windows they will likely have to re-learn once Vista and Office 2008 come along. So why not learn something different/cheaper/better instead. Who cares whether it's Mac or Linux, OpenOffice or whatever, just realise that even in the world of MS, change is constant, so change to something better, soon!

    Happy retirement and good riddance, Bill.

  30. call me scruffy
    Black Helicopters

    Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm,

    And the next initiative will be that all school children will get vouchers for "great-homework-essays.com".

    Of course, "leet speak" will have to be added as a modern language.

    I can't think of one moment in my GCSE studies when internet access would have made any more of a difference than access to a good library, infact school libraries tend not to have that many of those distracting naughty pictures in them.

  31. Steven Hewittt

    More to do with BT than MS surely?

    Whilst I agree that mutliple OS's need to be in schools, surely we need a decent broadband infrastructure than we have before we look further....

    Let's not forget that MS provide big discounts for schools, and also that many IT school staff will not be trainined or knowledgeable regarding OSS either - much to their shame.

    I remember a few years after Windows 95 was released I had to show MY tutor how to use the recycle bin.

    Schools should use a mixture of software granted - but we need the tutors to actually know their stuff as well as decent connectivity as well before we get a truly decent IT education ecosystem.

  32. Juhani Vehvilainen
    Thumb Up

    @ Don Mitchell

    Excellent points Don, couldn't have said it better. And while we're at it could we finally please add the following items to the curriculum:

    * A "computer" is a grey box or sometimes black with a transparent panel and blue lights inside

    * Computers are made of motherboards, chips (things get kind of complicated now as there are actually not one but two types (Intel and AMD) but bear with me) and graphics cards. Unbelievably some early steam-operated machines (not really computers because they didn't have an Intel or AMD on the motherboard, like the early Crays) actually didn't have a graphics card and in fact science has yet to establish how the things were used in the first place

    * There are three programming languages: VB and VC+. Well yeah that's two actually. Computer scientist also know one that escapes me but I've heard of at least this excellent painting program thingy was written in it

    * However the hardware by itself doesn't do much, to make it do some useful work you have to use the Start thing and "start" something, hence the name. Or reboot.

    * The windows of a computer are sometimes called an "operating system" for obscure historical reasons that no non-leftist remembers anymore

    * The most advanced computer scientists actually divide the windows's into multiple categories, there's the plain Windows, Windows Server, Windows HPC, Windows for Spaceships, Windows for Avionics.

    I think that about covers it.

  33. Martin Owens

    Eating words

    >> Of course people immediately see this as an opportunity to evangelize the

    >> open-source religion. Windows is still a more sophisticated technology than Linux

    It'll be fun watching you cough and splutter the force feeding of those words in the future. Like it or not beyond 5 years is an open source world. Besides do monsters really need your protection Don?

  34. Ishkandar
    Coat

    @Matt Bryant

    NooLabour TH*NK ??? You mean they actually practice such filthy perversions as TH*NK ??? And I assumed that they were such nice people that wouldn't stoop so low as to actually TH*NK !!

  35. Ishkandar
    Coat

    @Steve Renouf

    Force-fed my kids with 16x tables and hex numbering. Kicked and screamed all the way till they got to the "IT" classes in school. Then they showed off how fast they could work hexadecimal numbers and do rapid conversions back to base ten numbers.

    @Juhani Vehvilainen - I beg to deffer. Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was another language known as Microsoft Basic or the Gospel according to Saint Billy !!

    I also remember that Saint Billy paid approx. $25,000 for something called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) and re-branded it as Microsoft DOS and the rest, as they say, is history. BTW I am very far Left of Genghis Khan !! Of course, Attilla the Hun is a mere softy !!

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @Don Mitchell

    I've gotta assume this is a troll. But I'll humour him.

    "Of course people immediately see this as an opportunity to evangelize the open-source religion."

    As opposed to those who wish to use it as an opportunity to evangelize the Windows religion?

    "Windows is still a more sophisticated technology than Linux, and it's more practically useful for your child to learn to use the commercial standard."

    How exactly do you define a "commercial standard"? You see in my commercial world if I didn't have experience outside of the world of Microsoft I wouldn't be half as much use to my company as I am. We are of course Microsoft Gold Partners.

    "They might also like to play games, and please spare us the litany of lame open-source games."

    Funny, I get to play HalfLife2, HL1, (and all the other old ID/Valve games), Quake3, World Of Padman, a huge amount of my old favourite DOS and Windows 95/98 games (that I just can't for the life of me get to run under XP). So maybe that's not Crysis or COD4. But then my current hardware isn't capable of playing those games anyway, no matter if I was running Windows.

    Funnily enough my Nephew also plays.... HalfLife2, Counter Strike Source and Quake 4, on windows. He's also feeling the pinch hardware wise and is having a few issues with some of the latest games.

    "If you really want your kids to learn about computers, teach them to program."

    what like...

    Open a text editor from the console (or the "start" menu if you must waste time). Type in the below code.

    <code>

    // helloworld.c

    #include <stdio.h>

    #define COUNT 2

    static char hello[] = "hello world";

    int main()

    {

    int i;

    for(i = 0;i <= COUNT; i++)

    {

    printf("%s - %d\n",hello,i);

    }

    return 0;

    }

    </code>

    save it as helloworld.c

    at the console type

    gcc -v -o helloworld helloworld.c

    OMG I'm a programmer. Oh no, sorry, forgot you can't do that on a Microsoft platform without knowing how to install Cygwin or such like first. Or getting your head around Visual Studio (which teaches you jack about programming) and I'd find it hard to believe most kids would be interested in "Algorithms in C++, Parts 1-4".

    Please go ahead and write an example in any current MS programming product that is that simple.

    You do make an excellent suggestion in putting forward Sedgewick ...

    "It can be used as a textbook for a second, third, or fourth course in computer science, after students have acquired basic programming skills and familiarity with computer systems"

    http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0201314525

    They don't seem to agree though that it would be an introduction to programming :)

    "And if you really don't like Windows, buy them a Mac. "

    So instead of using an OpenSource unix variant, you believe everyone should use a commercial closed source unix variant. Not to mention of course that a huge amount of the codebase of OSX is from and continues to come from Open Source projects. Damn those "lefties" and their vision of openness which allows something such as Mac OSX to exist (KHTML/Safari anyone).

    "Just don't waste their time with ersatz open source software, and don't inflict some half-ass anti-capitalist politics on them. It's not going to serve them well, especially if they really do get interested in computers and want to make a living at it."

    I make a more than adequate living out of it. I work in the world of Microsoft. I mostly use open source tools to fill in the areas that Microsoft don't do too well in and augment the Microsoft tools I use.

    What do I use at home to learn on and run all my reliable services on. FreeBSD for my web server, irc server, ftp server, samba server. OpenSuse, for my uber eye candy desktop that leaves Vista or MacOS in the shade, ubuntu for a second boot of sanity on my work laptop (currently still running XP as it's primary OS as work will not let me upgrade to Vista because half the software I am required to use does not run properly on it and so we cannot be confident in it for production use). OpenSuse again using Fluxbox and MythTV in combination with LIRC for IR remote control and my HD projector to play back HD content in my living room. Not found a video or audio format yet I can't play back.

    Again funnily enough many of my friends who run Media centre keep telling me about all the issues they get with codecs and not being able to play a multitude of formats in streamed mode from their media PC.

    I hope I've put forward another view of the world.

    I'll get my coat. I'm obviously a leftie.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    @ Me like Ubuntu too!

    Surely a Linux distro without a root account and every account can gain root access using only sudo with no password goes against the moral designs of the presence of a root account?

  38. Ed
    Linux

    OLPC?

    I know at least one poster here has decried them as crap, but I personally think they may have some potential - I'll be able to say more about it when I finally get mine in the mail, of course.

    Yes, it would be nice to have a better system, but for the low cost of those systems, if it's functional and responsive, I'd say you're ahead. While I realize commercial mock-offs of the OLPC are still vapourware, I'd expect that when they come out, they would probably have models with sufficient capability to satisfy those with more beefy requirements, yet still be compatible with the basic system, so requiring something compatible with that system shouldn't be a problem.

    As far as games go - we're talking about educating kids. I personally don't think that there's any point to giving the kids systems designed to let them load up with any modern 3D shooter they want. Note: this comment is more about preferring a machine too under-specced to be able to play those games than it is the OS; over the next 5-10 years, I expect there will be a dramatic increase in the availability of games for Linux.

    For what it's worth, I'm not a die-hard Linux-or-death advocate. However, I am unaware of any other mobile system which can be had for so little money. Furthermore, all of the other systems I know for comparable money *also* run Linux; around here, new Windows boxes can't be had for under about $399, and new Mac boxes can't be had for under about $599.

    Oh, and if you can motivate the kid to work hard enough to get a real computer, you've basically won. (This is assuming, of course, that the kid is actually working for said money, rather than doing something illegal to get it.)

  39. Antoinette Lacroix
    Paris Hilton

    Always the same . .

    Do you have to turn everything into a MS vs Nix thing ? It's about broadband for children. Who the fsck cares what OS they'll run ? Will they get better jobs if they have internet access ? Will this make them any smarter ? Someone already mentioned that 99% of the www is crap, so I guess the answer is NO.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Surely a Linux distro without a root account

    "Surely a Linux distro without a root account and every account can gain root access using only sudo with no password goes against the moral designs of the presence of a root account?"

    Is that true? I didn't actually realise there isn't a root account in Ubuntu. I've not spent much time in Ubuntu configuring it as I've only got it installed as a secondary boot on my laptop and it's been a few weeks since I was last in it. I thought by default it asked for the user's own password (as is the normal behaviour of sudo when configured)

    It's sudo. You can configure it how you please with relative ease even for a newcomer.

    I know on SUSE 10.2 the default configuration is to act much like su and ask for the root password. But then there's a fully fledged root account with su available as well :)

    I can't see it as any different than Vista in it's default state and the visible part of UAC allowing you 'administrative' privileges by being in the administrator group by default, click and go.

    I think the point is to make it more accessible to users transitioning.

    Not that it's necessarily a good thing.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @Always the same . .

    This is such non news. We might as well talk about something else :)

    The simple fact is if you want children to get better jobs when they grow up then they need education.

    Education comes from learning. Learning is often best served by instruction given by a person experienced in that subject, we often call these people teachers. Invest in teachers and teaching resources and education will come. Not for all, but for many.

    As an example and as has been pointed out, a number of teachers are not well equipped when it comes to IT. Their own education is lacking. So I'm not just talking about teaching the children.

    If it's investment in infrastructure then it's good. Is it well aimed investment? I very much doubt it.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @@Surely a Linux distro without a root account

    Only those in the admin group can use sudo by default, the account you set up during install automatically goes into this group, all later accounts have to be added manually.

    If you want to run as a normal root user setup, you can always do "sudo su -" then type "pwd", enter a root password and now you have a root user you can access with "su". You have the choice.

  43. Mademoiselle Jones

    Enlightened schools...

    The trouble is, as several people have pointed out, that Microsoft offer good deals to schools, and schools are often tied into contracts involving Microsoft products. My husband is a school sysadmin and a Mac user at home, and is fighting to keep the Vista "upgrades" well away from the computers. It would be difficult to re-train all the IT teaching staff and network administration team on Linux: one of the teaching staff can't cope with OpenOffice, never mind Linux. The other constraint, re: switching to Mac, is that the hardware is proprietary and expensive. Not many schools, with the possible exception of private schools, can afford to completely replace all their hardware. Education budgets at the moment are extremely tight.

    There is a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. My 7-year-old son's school runs a combined Mac and Windows system, with a few Linux PCs for the more advanced kids. J has been using Linux at home for a long time and is more familiar with it than with Windows. The school is gradually switching over to a completely Linux-based system so that the children grow up with IT skills and not Windows skills. Again, the only problem is re-training adults to use a new system, but the kids take to it very easily. If the PCs are only to be used by kids who are able to adjust to a new OS very easily, then what's the point of worrying about it?

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