[LINK] Linux sneaks onto NSW school netbooks

[Tom Worthington]

At 08:08 AM 2/04/2009, Michael Skeggs mike at bystander.net wrote (was: 
"Lenovo, Microsoft, Adobe win NSW schools contract":

>Lenovo will supply the hardware, Microsoft will offer windows  ...
>Bit of a blow for OSS, which could have seen a generation raised and 
>rained in Open Office, Linux etc. ...

The retail IdeaPads come with "Splashtop", an instant-on version of 
Linux with simplified applications 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashtop>. So Linux might be on all 
those Lenovo IdeaPad S10e netbooks the students and teachers get.

The first batch of IdeaPads will have Windows XP installed as the 
primary operating system. This is supposed to be later upgraded to 
Windows 7, but that would be a very complex undertaking. If the 
netbooks also come with Linux, then a better option might be to 
upgrade that and keep Windows XP, for legacy applications.

While not specifically designed for students, Splashtop's simplified 
interface has similarities to the OLPC's "Sugar" child friendly 
graphical user interface and so may be useful for education 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_%28GUI%29>. Linux may also be 
less demanding of system resources, allowing the limited capacity of 
the netbook to perform better. It would also be less susceptible to 
Windows security attacks.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University