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Re: [News] Australian State Dumps Microsoft Office, Rejects Vista

____/ Matt on Thursday 10 April 2008 01:55 : \____

> Matt wrote:
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> NSW education downgrades Microsoft deal
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | At the same time, technology chief Stephen Wilson announced the
>>> department | will install a free alternative to Microsoft's Office
>>> suite, referred to in | industry circles as OpenOffice, on 41,000
>>> computers due to be distributed to | schools across the state by the
>>> end of 2008.   `----
>>>
>>> http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/FE73A77E2BB96F21CC257425007DCB21
>> 
>> more from that article:
>> (((((
>>> NSW education downgrades Microsoft deal
>>> Department installs OpenOffice, opts for XP over Vista
>>> By Agnes King Sydney | Wednesday, 9 April, 2008
>> 
>>> The NSW Department of Education has put Microsoft on notice after it
>>> agreed to extend its software licensing agreement with the company for
>>> just one year instead of renegotiating a new three-year contract.
>> 
>>> "For the first time we're going to install OpenOffice on every
>>> computer under our Technology 4 Learning programme," he says.
>>>
>>> One of the nation's biggest users of personal computers, the NSW
>>> Department of Education is also resisting Microsoft's attempts to
>>> upgrade users to the latest version of its Vista operating system.
>>>
>>> Instead, Wilson's team is downgrading every new computer it buys from
>>> Vista to Windows XP. This incurred an additional expense in the short
>>> term, he says, but was less expensive over the life of the computer.
>> 
>>> "There is a whole new generation of technology that's coming along
>>> which will break the conventional total cost of ownership that has
>>> made a 1:1 ratio of computers to students unaffordable in the past,"
>>> Wilson says.
>> 
>>> Launched during the election campaign, the Rudd government promised a
>>> laptop for every school student in years 9 to 12, at a cost of A$1
>>> billion over four years.
>> )))))
>> 
>> Elements of that article and this one:
>> http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22417856-15306,00.html
>> together imply that OO is going onto all of the 100,000 laptops
>> mentioned in the second article, as part of the Technology 4 Learning
>> (T4L) program.  Note: TAFE = Technical And Further Education.  I'm
>> guessing there are about a million high schoolers in Australia, about a
>> third of them in NSW.
>> 
>> http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22417856-15306,00.html
>> (((((
>>> Acer bags NSW laptop contract
>>> Andrew Colley | September 14, 2007
>>>
>>> COMPUTER maker Acer has won a lucrative contract to supply notebook
>>> computers to NSW schools and educational institutions, the state
>>> government said.
>>> Laptop
>>>
>>> Computer maker Acer will supply laptop computers to NSW schools
>>> The NSW Department of Education and Training has confirmed that Acer
>>> beat several state-approved rivals to fulfil the laptop component of
>>> its project to roll-out 100,000 computers in schools and TAFEs over
>>> the next four years.
>> )))))
> 
> Sorry, I left off this bit of the second article, from which we can
> pretty well guess the plan: four years from now, all of the high
> schoolers in NSW will have laptops running OpenOffice.  I would expect
> the same for all of Australia.  Of course, replacing the MS apps with
> the usual cross-platforms apps prepares the way for a change of OS.
> (((((
>> NSW Commerce finalised the contract this week selecting Acer alongside
>> Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and ASI.

The effect of this is 'viral' (network effect). With ODF being deployed, expect
more expectations from others to use ODF as well, including the government.
The significance of this should be seen as a "tipping point", not an absolute
number of the road of linear growth.

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

Roy S. Schestowitz     | Run a Linux server, then learn how to knit 
http://Schestowitz.com  |    RHAT Linux     |     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
 04:05:02 up 21 days, 15:14,  4 users,  load average: 1.98, 2.01, 1.86
      http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project

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