Open source USB key to $2bn school laptop plan

The Microsoft effect

Much of the total expense of deploying the laptops in schools is built around the cost of Microsoft Windows. It requires more expensive hardware to run it, recurring licensing fees for individual educational applications, and ‘an army of techies’ to fix it if kids start getting into the system control panel settings, according to Zymaris.

It’s a finding that is acknowledged in the Federal government’s National Secondary School Computer Fund financial implications report, but one that Microsoft Australia largely denies.

It wants governments to place less emphasis on cost and more on the complete ‘user experience’ they want to give Australian school students.

“If we start taking the view of what’s the cheapest option it may not give us the best solution,” said Peter Watson, manager of platform strategy at Microsoft Australia.

Watson refused to be drawn on whether the Redmond giant would drop its XP operating system licensing costs or create a new educational software bundle to make it more competitive with open source-based offerings.

But he revealed for the first time that cloud-based applications may be used alongside traditionally licensed software to make Microsoft-based tender proposals more attractive and cost-effective.

“Not everything has to run [locally] on the device,” said Watson.

“We’ll have software that runs on the device but also leverage Live Services and other applications that run in the cloud.”

Microsoft is acutely aware of the importance of having school students learn on its software platforms rather than open source alternatives.

Watson revealed to iTnews just part of the Microsoft stack it wants to put on the laptops. It includes Office, SharePoint for collaboration, unified communications, Live Services including Mesh, Windows Media Player and Movie Maker – highlighting the importance it places on familiarising students with its emerging applications suite.

“Education is such an important customer base,” said Felipe Rego, associate market analyst of PC hardware at IDC Australia.

“If Microsoft don’t have a final presence [in the winning tender], students could grow up using a computer system that isn’t based on Windows.”

Zymaris agreed: “Large vendors have a substantial vested interest in students using their software rather than the alternative.”

But it’s not just the large players who are interested. Zymaris admitted that increased penetration of Linux and applications like OpenOffice in schools as part of this project could potentially unhinge Microsoft’s domination in the enterprise space.

“The more people who use Linux now, the less it becomes their default expectation in the workplace,” said Zymaris.

Rego did acknowledge that the netbook device and the software on it is only part of the picture. The backend architecture is equally important, an area that Microsoft’s Watson is also keen to highlight.

“Microsoft is a very strong player in terms of delivering enterprise-grade infrastructure management,” said Watson.

Rego added: “It’s a total solution that’s going to be the key, and how that’s going to play out in the Microsoft and Linux camps is going to be interesting.

“It’s a tough call to make,” said Rego.

Read on to page three to find out how the USB system works and can be implemented.

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