Addison Community Schools Chooses Ubuntu

[Sameer Verma]

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Chris Christensen
<christensenc at addison.k12.mi.us> wrote:
> I wanted to release this on the Ubuntu Education list first.  I am proud to
> announce that Addison Community Schools in Addison, MI, USA has chosen
> Ubuntu Linux for our Mobile Computer Lab.  The hardware is Samsung NC10
> Netbooks and with the excellent help provided by the following sources I was
> able to provide a compelling argument for Ubuntu:
>
> http://nc10linux.wordpress.com - The #1 source for helping Ubuntu the
> obvious choice over Windows on the NC10.
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NC10 - The mouse can be a bit wild.  The
> instructions here brought it under control.
>
> I tested WIndows XP Pro and Windows 7 Beta (Windows Vista wasn't even a
> possibility) and both did well.  However neither could provide any reason to
> spend the money for the licenses.  I put the finished product in front of
> students and they were very happy with it.  This brought me to the
> conclusion that the operating system is irrelevant.  The students need a web
> browser and an office suite to get their work done.  With our use of Google
> Apps even the office suite is becoming irrelevant.
>
> Thanks for the great work that all developers have done on Ubuntu and other
> Open Source projects.  You are enabling small rural school districts like
> ours to focus what little money we have on getting better hardware and not
> on license after license.  Microsoft can "donate" as many licenses as they
> want to TechSoup and the like, it doesn't change the fact that the Open
> Source Community is producing excellent software.
>
> --
> Chris Christensen
> MCSA, MCITP, MCTS, MCDST
> Network and Systems Administrator
> Addison Community Schools
> Phone | 517-547-6123 x510
> Fax | 517-547-3838
> Email | christensenc at addison.k12.mi.us
> http://addison.k12.mi.us
>
> --
> ubuntu-education mailing list
> ubuntu-education at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
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>
>

Posts like these are very encouraging. It has been my experience that
FOSS implementation in corporations often happens behind a veil of
secrecy for a variety of reasons. In academia though, we tend to have
much more openness, leading to sharing of implementation stories. Such
posts also encourage others to follow suit and use examples such as
this one to bolster their own case. Thank you for posting, and
congratulations on introducing FOSS to a whole bunch of students!

I've posted your e-mail verbatim at along with our own effort this
semester with LTSP using the fatclient mode with the highfat option
for my courses.

cheers,
Sameer
-- 
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://opensource.sfsu.edu/