Open Source in the government will save the government a lot of money, though they may need a helping hand
From my experience in govt contracts, I can assure you it won't save a penny.
Suppose, they'll choose Apache instead of IIS. How's it going to save money? They'll hire IBM to integrate and support; and pay the same amount of money. Well, this time it'll be less for licenses, but more for man-months
Day 1. Take a simple OS and explain, what the hell is OS. What are the functions of OSs. Why do they exist. What was the computing before OSs were invented. etc.
You may take any OS you want as an example, e.g. MS-DOS or Minix. It's good if OS is relatively simple. GUI is not important at this point.
Day 2 and 3. Conventional OS comparison.
MS Windows, Unixes (xBSD, Linux), BeOS
Show them what's different in OSs. Different approaches to GUI. Shells. Multimedia. Plug-n-play. Configuration
Day 4 Real-time and embedded OSs, BIOS
Why do we need real-time OSs? How are they implemented. Comparisons. Embedded OSs, PDAs, Phones. Symbian, PalmOS, JavaOSs, Forth.
Day 5 System programming
Take Minix and show kids how to write and debug some sort of system software, e.g. keyboard driver.
Slashdot Mirror
Day 1. Take a simple OS and explain, what the hell is OS. What are the functions of OSs. Why do they exist. What was the computing before OSs were invented. etc. You may take any OS you want as an example, e.g. MS-DOS or Minix. It's good if OS is relatively simple. GUI is not important at this point. Day 2 and 3. Conventional OS comparison. MS Windows, Unixes (xBSD, Linux), BeOS Show them what's different in OSs. Different approaches to GUI. Shells. Multimedia. Plug-n-play. Configuration Day 4 Real-time and embedded OSs, BIOS Why do we need real-time OSs? How are they implemented. Comparisons. Embedded OSs, PDAs, Phones. Symbian, PalmOS, JavaOSs, Forth. Day 5 System programming Take Minix and show kids how to write and debug some sort of system software, e.g. keyboard driver.