[ale] Palladium/MS: ideas for retaliation

[Jeff Hubbs]

Anyone who knows me knows that I would LOVE to work on something like
this.  I can say with no hesitation, however, that I can't simply
volunteer.

What Dow says here about "Linux guys being laid off," applies to me, at
least to the extent I can be described as a "Linux guy."  I'm now ten
months into being the "stay-at-home parent."

Now: comments on others' comments and misc. rambling below:

On Wed, 2002-06-26 at 12:04, Dow Hurst wrote:


> >I assure you the best you will do is replace server 
> > environments at this level.  Currently Cobb County uses Novel Netware, 
> > so they're not totally M$ shop.

Okay, fine.  One of the strengths of having Linux server environments is
the power of accommodation.  I would say, support Windows and Linux
clients as equally as is practical, and let other practical
considerations guide the supplanting of Windows clients.  

> >
> > Because of the investment in software these school systems have, and 
> > the comfort level the average teacher has with M$ environment, you 
> > won't be able to touch the computers in the classroom or labs.

Let me stomp up and down on that "investment" word.  We are talking
about a Government agency here.  These are not "investments;" these are
EXPENSES.  COSTS!  This means that there is NO LOSS TO THE GOVERNMENT if
the status quo is chucked out the window replaced with a more flexible
and less costly alternative and furthermore, am I wrong or does "the
average teacher's" comfort level consist of clicking on icons to open
apps (e.g., Web browser, mail client)?   My point is, how hard can the
transition be??  I don't think the average teacher does much registry
editing or setting up his or her own network drive mappings.

Setting all that aside, though, here's where I think the REAL obstacle
lies.  Let's suppose that somewhere there is a statewide IT manager who
has been approving these monstrously expensive MS/Checkpoint/Cisco
procurements for quite some time now.  What you're proposing is that
there is a group of people who can create equal or better IT resources
that meet all the same needs and then some for a FRACTION of the
procurement cost.  This puts this manager in a considerable bind, for
your mere proposal implies that the IT manager soaked the Georgia
taxpayer by not researching alternatives in the state's best interest. 
So, you'll get absolutely nowhere making a proposal to such a person. 
The best you can hope to do is a) make a "groundswell" among teachers,
principals, and administrators b) make a case to state legislators and
people above the level of the statewide IT manager.  

Now, if we were in a position to do lots of work for free, we could get
in tight with some school, work up an LTSP rig (FWIW, I have gotten an
LTSP client/server rig to work and I know from having done that that
even though LTSP represents a huge amount of work on the part of its
creators, it takes a lot of additional work to make it truly
deployable), and make it do something useful by way of a demonstration. 
Then, the next step would be to parade as many decision-makers as
possible past it and let THEM make the mental leap regarding the
hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs that could be avoided.  

Make no mistake, I'm very enthusiastic about the idea of using Linux to
power school systems; I want more money to flow to teachers, not
overpriced spy^H^H^Hsoftware.  But, I also feel that even if we managed
to switch off Sponge Bob long enough to put together a truly excellent
LTSP rig as a demonstration, there won't exactly be a receptive
audience.  

I have a personal issue here in that my daughter is about to enter
Georgia's public schools for the first time and I care about the
environment she and her classmates are in.  As far as my daughter's case
goes, it isn't so much that I think that she needs the best IT resources
at her fingertips at school (she can get that at home!  HAH!) but rather
that I don't want my daughter's school system to be so cash strapped
after budgeting for IT that the teachers are knuckle-draggers, the
buildings aren't clean and well-maintained, and the lunch tastes like
sand.  

Basically, the school system would have to be willing to fund payroll
for a group of people to research and lead Open-Source IT resource
implementation.  I'd work in such a group in a heartbeat if I could get
paid for it.  One thing that I have a real issue about in schools is the
effect of all these old and/or donated PCs - machines that are donated
PRECISELY BECAUSE they are effectively or actually USELESS in the MS
regime.  My LTSP rig that ran here at the house had a 2xP/133 server and
a P/90 client, and the weak link was DEFINITELY NOT the client!  It
occured to me quite a few years ago that these donations are really
liabilities - they can't run modern MS OSses usably yet their presence
makes it more difficult for schools to lobby for sufficiently powerful
PCs.  

- Jeff


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