Michael Dolan Dot Com

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

Linux desktop implementation study from the front lines in Indiana

While I often talk about the benefits of Linux, the vision comes to life (or fails to) back in the datacenter, on a person’s desk, or on the road. A while back, Indiana announced a project to begin putting Linux on the desktop for the public school system. A grand vision indeed.

A recently colleague pointed me to an implementation study that peels back the “press show” of one-liners and broad statements to reveal the hard numbers, the financials, the strategy, the applications or software stack, etc. that make Linux a viable option for Indiana public schools. I would recommend this study to anyone in a K-12 situation but also for others outside K-12 who can see how this alternative platform can work to their advantage. I found the “Stories from the Field” a very interesting section where they bring this down to a “day in the life of” view.

You can find the implementation study here:

http://k12opentech.org/k12ot/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid=43

Here’s a paragraph I found interesting:

Some InACCESS schools have added as many as 300 new machines, yet none have reported having to add additional technical support staff. This is remarkable because student machines are heavily used, and “uptime” is especially critical in the one-to-one setting. Microsoft-based sites are having a harder time working with the Linux machines than Novell districts. Some schools are using Zenworks from Novell or Ghost for Linux to make reloading student machines with a fresh installation as easy as a click of a button. In order to control tech support requirements most districts are installing all machines with uniform images. Many use remote installs and automation to wipe the machines clean and reinstall every year. Other schools are experimenting with Linux Terminal Server and Ardence (see more on Ardence below)