U.K.: Open source could halve school IT bills

The open-source community is expected receive a major boost this week from the U.K. tech agency, which has investigated the potential benefits of using free, nonproprietary software in education.

The Information and Communication Technology agency's research, carried out by the British Educational Communications and Technology Association (BECTA), concluded that primary schools could cut computer costs by nearly half if they stop buying, operating and supporting products from software companies such as Microsoft, according to the London Times.

BECTA's report won't be officially released until Friday, but as ZDNet UK earlier reported, its initial findings were presented to a workshop in mid-April. The panel of educational IT specialists heard that open-source software offers lower costs for support, hardware and software, and also discussed perceived barriers to open-source acceptance.

At present, Microsoft has an agreement with the U.K. Department of Education and Skills under which schools can receive sponsorship of up to $28,250 (15,000 pounds). This has sparked claims that schools are canceling open-source projects to avoid upsetting Microsoft.

Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK contributed to this report.

[sanenazok]

Schools are the best for open source

1. Students can learn much more from open source products than from Windows since it's not just all point and click.<br />2. Students don't "need" a particular application like Outlook appears to be needed in the corporate world.<br />3. School IT always need a way to save money, and this may be just that.

[qazwiz]

Microsoft should be giving schools ALL software free

the reason a<br />Apple has such a strong hold is not because of wide selection, PC software is exponentially more available, or arguably because it has a better OS, both have security issues and both do about the same things at about the same speed. No, the reason for the Apple support is that Apple gave away computers to the institutions teaching the impressionable minds of the world.<br /><br />When you buy your first hardware do you buy what you've used for years or something you don't know how to use? When you upgrade do you go with hardware compatible with your current hardware or do you buy all new hardware and software? <br /><br />while simplistic in presentation, if these were the only variables then Apple would have 100% of the market, this is certainly why the skimpy software and terse customer relations hasn't killed Apple(as it almost did before Jobs returned)<br /><br />not only should Microhard give free software but they should do a similar program in the new 64 bit hardware, giving grants to help schools move to 64 bits (Intel/ ADM of course so the free OS will work on it)