FOSS in education prediction for 2008

Why 2008 will be a bad year for Microsoft’s Ed Tech market share, January 1st on ZDnet.

The author makes the following points

• FOSS provides a solution for students to continue with their education outside of school unencumbered by cost and legal issues
• School administrations are looking for ways to cut costs and FOSS may help
• There are a growing number of people familiar with FOSS and Linux and these tools are becoming easier to use making the management issue more manageable
• As students become accustomed to using FOSS in school, they will demand its use in the workplace

The last point is important and reinforces my thinking for the past few years. We should be filling our school networks with the free stuff. I'm happy for the proprietary products to be there as well but I think it is poor form that schools are paying for it.

In addition to filling the school network with the free stuff, consider giving away a copy of the OpenEducationDisc to all students as they enrol. This facilitates students being able to freely and seamlessly continue with their school work at home and helps our young people and their families stay legal.