[TriLUG] OC OSS

[Kevin Hunter]

For those who need a little more context, this is on the agenda for
*today's* meeting of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education.

http://www2.chccs.k12.nc.us/education/components/docmgr/download.php?fileitem=55322

Item under section IV (page 12): Technology Cost Avoidance and Savings

Kevin

At 7:18pm -0400 on Wed, 01 Apr 2009, Carl Crider wrote:
> *Open Source / Web 2.0 cost avoidance.*
> 
> There is a movement supporting the use of open source and web 
> 2.0 applications in K-12 education.  The convergence of web 
> technologies and the growth of new virtualization solutions 
> makes this an exciting time to manage a computing enterprise. 
> In 2006 the district made the decision to stop purchasing new 
> and upgraded licenses for Microsoft Office for teacher and 
> student computers.  The cost to upgrade all computers to the 
> latest version of MS Office is $297,000.  We do not plan to 
> upgrade to this product across the district.  Our current focus 
> is to identify open source or Web 2.0 solutions to replace 
> costly proprietary software.  This cost was most recently 
> avoided by installing the free, open source product called "Open 
> Office" at Carrboro High School, on all High School teacher 
> laptops, and at Morris Grove.  At $50 per workstation for MS 
> Office, this saved the district over $17,000.  During the past 
> few years the district has not purchased much software.  We are 
> requesting that our customers use free, web 2.0 products such as 
> iTunes, Audacity, Tuxpaint, Photostory, and Google Sketch-up. 
> This is a trend that is embraced by most schools.  Current: 
> There is a minimal software budget at the district and within 
> schools.  In most cases, this has been transferred to support 
> on-line resources or hardware needs.  Reduction: None.