Open source question for schools [link], Malaysian Government Saves Big with Open Source [link]

[simbiso at gmail.com]

Some excerpts from the articles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7847377.stm

Looking around the British Education Training and Technology show,
BETT 2009, it was clear by the sheer size of the event, that an awful
lot of money is being spent on technology in education.
With Open Source Software (OSS) freely available, covering
almost every requirement in the national curriculum, a question has to
be asked why schools do not back it more fully, possibly saving
millions of pounds.
In the education sector, OSS is promoted and used by only a handful
of self-motivated technologists looking to stretch their technology
budget.
Critics say Becta - the government agency which oversees the
procurement of all technology for schools - has not done enough to
promote OSS.



http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/malaysian-government-saves-big-open-source

 According to the Open Source Competency Center (OSSC) of the
Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit
(MAMPU) — Malaysia's primary governing body — to-date, Malaysia has
saved RM40 million (about $11.2 million) in licensing fees
[PDF] by implementing Open Source software. Of that RM40 million, more
than RM12 million ($3.4 million) has been saved through the use of
OpenOffice, which is installed on more than 12,760 government systems.


All in all draws some fine points on what we can learn and utilize
here in Zimbabwe.


--