Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> LinuxWorld: IT users looking to fill gaps with open source
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| But all students use the free OpenOffice productivity suite. Teachers get
>| Microsoft Office but they have an option to use OpenOffice. "A lot of
>| curriculum [applications are only] available for Microsoft Windows, so it's
>| hard to make that translate to the open source world," Savage said.
>|
>| When the school district first brought Linux and open source applications
>| into its data centre in 2002, it was to primarily to cut costs. "We like to
>| get as much money as possible into the classroom so if we can save money in
>| the data centre with a high level of reliability, we will definitely go with
>| Linux." For the school system, the focus isn't on what is cool in IT but on
>| what is good for the students, teachers and supporting staff, he said.
> `----
>
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=18&articleId=9029459&intsrc=hm_topic
>
This is the fundamental problem with lock-in, and equally, why
binary-only objects of any kind are highly risky.
It can be very very expensive to escape lock-in, and the period during
which the escape is taking place can cost millions. The best route is
to avoid it in the first place by staying wholly open, the next best is
to escape it as rapidly as possible.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
