Technology & Learning - April 2009 - (Page 28) FEATURESTORY When Free Isn’t Free The realities of running open source in school by Pam Derringer Despite the last few years’ growth in awareness of open-source software in schools and the potential savings it represents, its widespread adoption is still hampered. Randy Orwin, technology director of the Bainbridge Island School District in Washington State and a strong opensource advocate, cautions that installing an open-source infrastructure is neither easy nor cheap. Linux management tools are not robust enough to handle thousands of desktops, he says, and this leaves IT directors to deal with the complexity, either at the back end or on the desktops, depending on the configuration. “I don’t know any large-scale implementation that didn’t cost a chunk of change to get there,” says Orwin. “It’s much more difficult than people realize.” On a local level, it’s often tough to convince skeptical officials to switch to open source, especially to products that directly affect desktop users. Orwin persuaded Bainbridge Island’s technical advisory committee to try open source by dangling a financial carrot. The committee agreed to switch from Microsoft Windows to Open Office after Orwin proposed spending the $65,000 they’d save on software licensing on technology training, for which there was zero in the budget. To date, Bainbridge Island has conducted very targeted, job-specific training sessions for three consecutive summers. “The big stumbling block is not the software; it’s changing the attitudes of the end users,” the Linux management tools are not robust enough to handle thousands of desktops, leaving IT directors to deal with the complexity either at the back end or on the desktops, depending on the configuration. 28 | TECH & LEARNING
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