March of the Penguins-David Thornburg
Thornburg starts the session by giving a point for his new book. Might have to pick that up after the session. A book on open-source and open-source programs.
Linux started from a high school student in Helsinki, Finland
“I want students to use the programs they will use when they leave school.” and argument that has fueled the Mac vs PC debate for decades.
Sprint runs there how system on Linux.
Gartner Group study of 2000:
90% of the worlds 2000 largest companies will use open source software by 2010
70% will have migrated to Linux
Which OS should we be using and looking at for schools if 70% of the worlds largest companies will be using Linux.
State of affairs (estimated)
Windows 92%
Linux 5%
Mac 3%
Linux installations come at expense of Windows
edubuntu is an OS designed specifically for education
New Hampshire spending:
Win XP $72/year
Office $52/year
Inspiration $24
Photoshop $279
Sound Forge $45
Dreamweaver $189
LCSI Microworlds $89
That’s about $500 per desktop plus $140/year.
The free alternatives:
Linux
Open Office
Cmap
GIMP
Audacity
NVU
NetLogo
TuxPaint-Free KidPix program for kids
How can free software be reliable
Created by people who depend on it
Support is truly global
Pride of authorship
Example: Wikipedia
Wikipedia: an open source encyclopedia
anyone can add articles
Largest encyclopedia in the world
Almost as accurate as Encyclopaedia Britannica
In major errors Britannica and Wikipedia had the same ratio
In minor errors Britannica had 1/3 more errors than Wikipedia
Celestia is now supported by NASA
Dr. Geo Geometric constructions
Benefits of free open source software
Can send software home with kids
No license issues for multiple system installation
bug reports go to human beings
Developers are usually responsive
Can fix bugs yourself if you want
Limitations of free open source software
Titles are based on programmers interest
Forks can emerge (StarOffice vs. OpenOffice)
Commercial titles are coming!
When you don’t have to buy the basic programs it leaves more money for special programs need in the classroom.
Linux and large installations
The state of Indiana is rolling out 300,000 computers all using Linux
technorati tags:David Thornburg, necc, necc06
Blogged with Flock
[…] I would like to thank Jeff Utecht (The Thinking Stick) for posting his notes taken at David ThornburgÂ’s NECC presentation, “March of the Penguins”. I am especially grateful for the list of common educational applications (including spending figures in New Hampshire schools) and their free alternatives. I have recreated the list below. I am also very interested in other free alternatives to common, or not so common, applications, if you know of any, please list them in the comments. […]