Linux for Irish schools was Re: [ILUG] AGM 2004

[Paul Jakma]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004, Aidan Delaney wrote:

> (2) is a problem for a lot of software that schools have purchased.  Im
> talking about the Macromedia Flash type software games that they buy on
> CDs.

That's interesting, "Flash type software" - are you saying a lot of 
these things are flash based? That makes proposed use of Linux an 
/easier/ fit than otherwise, given that Flash is cross-platform 
(though, the *nix flash plugin appears to have massive performance 
problems compared to the windows version).

Another selling point might be the availability of free software in 
common fields of computer applications, eg CAD (QCAD), print layout 
(Scribus?) and image manipulation (the GIMP). You'd more than likely 
run into the obstacle of "but they're not $BRAND_NAME package" - 
however work-a-like software with which students can at least learn 
the concepts is surely better than no software at all (I doubt most 
schools could afford the popular commercial windows packages - 
certainly not AutoCAD).

You'd also likely run into "yes, but the teachers dont know these 
things", but then even if they dont but if the software is there, at 
least those (few?) interested students can tinker and learn some of 
it themselves.

regards,
-- 
Paul Jakma	paul at clubi.ie	paul at jakma.org	Key ID: 64A2FF6A
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