[LINK] Open source and government: Brazil to install 356, 800 Green Workstations into schools (open source based tools)

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Fernando Cassia wrote:
> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Phillip Musumeci <p.musumeci at ieee.org> wrote:
>> [Apologies if this was noted in LINK previously.  My somewhat late alert
>> came via a European source, and in Europe there is much more interest in
>> government use of open source technologies.]
>> The Brazil government is installing linux based virtualised systems
>> into schools (plural!) in "all of Brazil's 5,560 municipalities".  The PR
>> blurb from the supplier is at
>> http://www2.userful.com/company/linux-desktop-virtualization where the
>> per-seat price is quoted as US$50 + {keyboard, screen}.
>>
>> Some underlying technology from Canada and Brazil is proprietary but the
>> students see a typical linux desktop and that is what is centrally *and*
>> remotely managed.  A more powerful central node gets shared/virtualised
>> between up to 10 users.
>>
>> They also note that the first 18,750 went into rural schools, presumably
>> where disadvantage was greatest.  This might be of interest in Australia if
>> budget pressures reduce the distribution of laptops into schools with little
>> computer access.  It would also require a mindset change by education
>> authorities who appear, in the main, to be locked into proprietary
>> technologies.
>>
>> Phillip Musumeci
> 
> Down here in Argentina (the country South-West of Brazil, for the
> record ;), the Education Ministry originally signed a letter of
> intention to buy 1M OLPC computers when the price annouced was $100.
> 
> The Wintel lobby got into full motion, and nothing was ever achieved
> (the OLPC project had its own mishaps). And now we learn that the next
> administration (the current one) purchased 250,000 Intel Classmates
> preloaded with WinXP.
> 
> :-(
> 
> Few people realized (or explained) the OLPC potential... in getting
> kids interested in CODE TWEAKING, by looking at the apps source and
> modifying it.
> 
> http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1001027/olpc-retro-futurist
> 

Not sure that I believe the OLPC hype, but this has popped up in recent days:
<http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/10_laptop_flops_India_orders_25_lakh_OLPC_laptops_-nid-56068.html>

and then there is this curious paragraph:
> Based on the Intel Atom processor 230, the nettop aims at the first time users and the government projects. It is priced at Rs.12,000 without the inclusion of a monitor and an operating system. "The company is in talks with Microsoft to integrate the Windows based operating system with the nettop," said S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Acer India. The company claims that the product can enable 30 percent of power saving with a small form factor of 8.5 liters and the 45 nm processors from Intel.
<http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Acer_unveils_Aspire_EL1600_nettop_to_tap_Indias_PC_market-nid-56067.html>

A few years ago, this Brisbane based mob were one of the bright spots at CEBIT 
in Sydney
> Thin Clients are devices that receive software and data from network servers. The central storage and automated distribution of data and applications dramatically reduces costs and eases manageability. It also allows users to access the same set of data and applications from anywhere through multiple devices.
  ...seems they will be back this May - I seem to recall a Canadian link.
<http://thinlinx.com/>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au/linux/eeepc-video-conference.shtml
Phone: (+61)0414 869202