Sean Inglis <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
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>> Open source trumps Microsoft in UK schools
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | MICROSOFT has suffered further set-backs in the UK education sector this
>> | week after Becta, the government procurement quango, reformed its
>> | purchasing regime to break the software giant's hold on education, and
>> | launched a programme to get schools to adopt open source software.
>> |
>> | At least three open source software suppliers submitted tenders to Becta
>> | yesterday for the £270,000 Schools Open Source Project. The winner will
>> | spend two years building a community of schools which uses and develops
>> | its own open source alternatives to Microsoft software.
>> |
>> | Becta has also specifically called on open source companies to join its
>> | £80 million framework list of certified suppliers of software to
>> | schools, contracts for which will be awarded in June. The last framework
>> | list consisted entirely of Microsoft suppliers and drew Becta widespread
>> | criticism for favouring the convicted monopolist over cheaper, homegrown
>> | alternatives.
>> `----
>>
>>
> http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/21/open-source-trumps-microsoft-uk
>>
>
> Superb, and not before time. Savings aside, exposure to choice and different
> mechanisms for achieving the same end are essential in this context.
Agreed. I'd like to see a return to teaching "computing" instead of
"Microsoft" in our schools.
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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