[K12OSN] Many are not keen on hearing the calling

[Huck]

The main private school I support was donated 20k and I quote "to make 
the teaching computer lab as good or better than one of our elementary 
schools".
so 21 17" LCD's were bought(the elementary school only has CRT's 
atm)...and will be upgrading their computers from AMD 2000+'s with 256 
megs of ram and 40 gig hd's.
to P4's with 512 megs of ram, and dvd-burners(only stats I've been give 
atm)...as if what they currently have will not run MS-Office, XP, 
Photoshop elements, VB.NET, and a web browser without any kludge 
what-so-ever...Oh and purchase a color laser printer.(most likely going 
OVER the 20k donation)
with 12k I could make it better than the elementary school, recover 6k 
of the 12k after 3yrs in energy savings have zero 'white noise' from 
fans and hd's...
use OO, Gimp, and pick 1(but why stop with one?) of a plethora of 
programming languages better than VB.NET...

But no, they'd rather go ahead and encourage slavery even if the kids 
can't afford these programs at home.

--Huck

norbert wrote:

> microman at cmosnetworks.com wrote:
>
>> Yep, that's my district, too.  Heck, it seems to be every district 
>> and school around here except for one lone school in my area.  I've 
>> given up on US schools and am now shifting my focus to the Latin 
>> Americans.  They seem to be considerably more open-minded.
>>
>> I think it will take a government mandate, probably from nothing less 
>> than your state/provincial government, to get the local government 
>> people to get a move-on.  Here's a link that amplifies this truly 
>> stupid mindset:
>>
>> http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print/?TYPE=story&AT=39169464-39020390t-10000004c
>>
>> What I find disturbing is that part about your sister's unwillingness 
>> to even tell you why.
>>
>> --TP
>>
>> Brian Chase wrote:
>>
>>> Well, as the attached email indicated, it's difficult convincing 
>>> died in the wool and old-school Microsoft folks to switch to Linux, 
>>> but I'd thought I'd put it out there for comment.
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>>
>>> BC
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>>
>>>
>>> Subject:
>>> Well, I failed trying to sell to my sister
>>> From:
>>> Brian Chase <networkr0 at cfl.rr.com>
>>> Date:
>>> Mon, 08 Nov 2004 19:53:56 -0500
>>> To:
>>> Steve Hargadon <steve.hargadon at gmail.com>
>>>
>>> To:
>>> Steve Hargadon <steve.hargadon at gmail.com>
>>>
>>>
>>> Steve,
>>>
>>> My sister is a vice-principal in a high school in Connecticut, with 
>>> a background in teaching computer and business classes.  Maybe she's 
>>> worried about nepatism, maybe she just doesn't think enough of me as 
>>> a character reference, but my own sister won't even give me contacts 
>>> for IT people from within her school system!  Wonder if the shoe was 
>>> on the other foot how I'd feel.....
>>>
>>> In any event, she won't tell me ANYTHING, she's clammed up.  She 
>>> won't even tell me why she's so secretive about it, but I only want 
>>> to help, don't want to show her or anyone else up, and don't want to 
>>> soak the State of Connecticut for it's precious tax dollars.  As I 
>>> understand it, they are committed Microsoft all the way, but that 
>>> might not be the case.
>>>
>>> Anyone else care to crack this nut?
>>>
>>> I'd appreciate any coaching you might provide in the various sales 
>>> approaches that you used in this environment over the years.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Brian Chase
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>
>>
> Hi,
>
> Might I suggest another possibility, after racking my brains for the 
> past 18 months on demos, presentations & info seminars and getting 
> rave reviews from teachers, principals & students alike. Running very 
> successful pilot projects in the schools & community centres, I now 
> told that the School Boards will NOT proceed with OSS !!!!
> Now understand that we have had admissions from senior board IT people 
> owing up that K12ltsp would save them hundreds of thousands of $$$$$$ 
> yet still no progress.
> However some of my "inside" sources are telling me that the issue is 
> not from within the School Boards, nor from the Govt. ! but from 
> "unknown generous donours" that tie their donations ( or payouts) to 
> the continued use of M$ products.............. could this be the cause 
> of the "cone of silence" suddenly being invoked when probing for leads 
> & info in your area too ?????
>
> Comments ?????
>
> regards
> norbert
>
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