"Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3501349.hZ7FP2oeDx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> School District Dropping Macs for More "Appropriate Technology"
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Mr. Willard's Mac-free schools will also use open source software
> | from Lenox Softworks. The combination of Windows plus open source
> | software, he said, will prevent students from downloading music
> | and movies to the computers.
> |
> | Some Macs will be allowed to stay in elementary and middle schools
> | in concentrated areas, but it looks like high schools will have to
> | do without.
> `----
>
> http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/12/18.4.shtml
Certainly Mr. Willard is a sort of anti-MP3 Nazi. Nothing like having your
decisions made for you by the government, though, it saves a lot of time and
energy that could be devoted to watching re-runs of CSI Miami.
There is another nugget hidden in this story, however, and one that the
poster glossed over or else did not grasp. The district is bent on
replacing Macs with Wintel, and Linux is not a candidate here. Rather,
where some OSS is to be used, it is used on Windows. The lesson is that
Linux stands essentially alone and none of the other open source software
projects are effective allies. These programs can be used with Windows as
easily as with Linux. There is a corollary question as to who is affected
the most by this phenomenon. Microsoft is definitely faced with competition
in the Office arena, but the battle between Microsoft and Open Office seems
to have totally destroyed the viability of other products such as Word
Perfect which face a double whammy in an area that has a declining interest
among consumers who have more word processor choices than they need.
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