[LINK] Open source USB key to $2bn laptop plan

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

<brd>
the projected costs keep going up. Funny that.

</brd>

Open source USB key to $2bn laptop plan
By Ry Crozier
iTnews
10 December 2008 03:07PM

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/90863,open-source-usb-key-to-2bn-laptop-plan.aspx

The Rudd Government’s promise of a laptop for every child could fail 
without at least $2 billion in public funding, but an alternative USB 
‘computer’ system pioneered in France may be its saviour.

Speaking to iTnews, Cybersource CEO Con Zymaris said a $2 billion 
funding injection – double the original commitment – would be needed to 
put some four million netbooks on the desks of Australian school students.

The Federal government estimates the total cost per laptop to be up to 
$2,500 over four years.

But that amount could be too high to put one in the hands of every 
student unless the government doubles its financial commitment or 
alternate proposals are considered, according to Zymaris.

“With the costs the states are putting forward, there’s no way a billion 
dollars will buy a laptop for every student,” said Zymaris.

“The current approach will mean one netbook between every five or ten kids.”

Cybersource is proposing a variation of a model adopted by French 
schools , where students are issued with a 2-4 GB USB key that contains 
a self-booting Linux operating system ‘and all the core applications 
they need’.

The USB key can be plugged into any computer – personal or shared – and 
the student’s data can be accessed either directly from the key or the 
cloud.

Under the Australian variation, students would receive a USB key and 
either a personal netbook or a laptop that can be shared between two 
students, depending on the final amount of government funding to be made 
available.

Cybersource has created a free online kit that state education 
departments and schools can use to assess and implement its proposal.

“Everyone is proposing a plan with one laptop and one set of systems and 
data per person,” said Zymaris.

“We’re saying you can shift away from that model in schools. You can 
still give students something that’s intrinsically theirs [the USB key] 
– essentially a ‘computer’ without a netbook terminal – and then provide 
terminals that are interchangeable.

“In the least we’d like to put the idea on the table for consideration,” 
explained Zymaris.

Comment on the proposal and open source alternatives in general is being 
sought from both the NSW Department of Education and the Department of 
Education and Early Childhood Development in Victoria.

-- 
 
Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au