[K12OSN] Any LTSP/Linux ideas?

[Jim Kinney]

To add a concept to Williams experience, LTSP _IS_ a cloud computing
environment for schools. It's completely cutting-edge technology that
Microsoft wishes it could replicate. And it was invented in 1970. :-)


On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 1:43 PM, William Fragakis <william at fragakis.com>wrote:

>
> > > This is a school environment with about 60 desktop computers.  The
> > > question is coming from the administration -- they have been using
> > > Windows since the 3.11 days and so I believe it's just a matter of
> > > inertia.  I am also a volunteer and I'm not really sure if I'd like to
> > > continue as a volunteer if they do switch over -- the administration
> > > of it would be too much effort I fear.
> > >
>
> Joseph,
> I've been involved with K12LTSP/K12Linux since Fedora 5 (what year was
> that?) - from a primary school conversion to, today, running my wife's
> medical practice on K12Linux running Scientific Linux.
>
> Stories like mine are pretty common. In reading your post, I'm guessing
> something else is up than just considering costs, etc. The
> administration is not only used to Windows but used to the old desktop
> model of computing. Word processor, a few apps and a browser to look at
> "educational sites".
>
> This reminds me of the resistance we encountered because "everybody uses
> MS Office at work and kids will need to learn it to get jobs".  What
> people could see was only in their near experience. They'd forgotten how
> Office supplanted Word Perfect and couldn't imagine something like
> Writely/Google Docs or even how Office would change it's own interface
> significantly in future versions.
>
> Desktops still have their place but our kids are moving into a world
> where the "cloud" is their desktop - everything from Google docs to
> online apps and web sites that do much of the processing done by
> desktops in the past. Intel's Chromebooks, smart phones, smart TVs and
> tablets are examples of devices that enable users in the new
> environment.
>
> In my mind, the move to the cloud has made LTSP more, not less,
> relevant. What is important today is to have an inexpensive
> web/network-enabled device that is easily configured, supported and
> managed. LTSP does that; it does it very well. Many of the barriers we
> had to overcome in the past simply are going away. Proprietary
> technologies like Flash and Silverlight are dying or dead as the move to
> smart phones has forced providers to adapt HTML 5 whether they like it
> or not.
>
> Good luck,
> William
>
>
>
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>



-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
*
*Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
*
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