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How Microsoft Beats GNU/Linux In Schools
twitter writes "Ever wonder why schools still use Windows? Boycott Novell has extracted the details from 2002 Microsoft email presented in the Comes vrs Microsoft case and other leaks. What emerges is Microsoft's desperate battle to 'never lose to Linux.' At stake for Microsoft is more than a billion dollars of annual revenue, vital user conditioning and governmental lock in that excludes competition, and software freedom for the rest of us. Education and Government Incentives [EDGI] and "Microsoft Unlimited Potential" are programs that allows vendors to sell Windows at zero cost. Microsoft's nightmare scenario has already been realized in Indiana and other places. Windows is not really competitive and schools that switch save tens of millions of dollars. Because software is about as expensive as the hardware in these deals, the world could save up to $500 million each year by dumping Microsoft. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it's hard to see what Microsoft can do other than what they did to Peter Quinn."
To be pedantic, that is supposed to be an upgrade disc.
To be pedantic, you're just plain wrong. I want you to show me where it says "Upgrade" when describing the disk anywhere on the packaging or license. "Must be installed on Apple hardware" doesn't translate to "upgrade" (no matter how much you torture the phrase) since it doesn't state I need to have a previous copy of a license.
Put identity in the browser.
So it's not psychologically different from making your gang's new recruit kill "an enemy" so that the recruit bonds to the gang and can't allow himself / herself to defect and suffer the anguish of having killed an innocent person? Interesting proposition. May I subscribe to your newsletter?
Put identity in the browser.
In your case, don't install Autoconf, Flex, Bison, GCC etc. on computers serving a desktop (thin or thick).
Put identity in the browser.
I don't know the exact setup of ADS, but Linux clusters do auto-image all the time. There are plenty of tools for that. SystemImager probably does what you want.
For the whole Exchange server / Sharepoint thing, you're going to pay or you're going to opt for the "free for education" Google Docs.
Open Admin is an extremely mature school management package, and SchoolTool is an up-and-coming one, but school reporting requirements are so strict that many packages won't pass muster.
This kind of migration is extremely difficult and I think you're making too light of it.
Put identity in the browser.