Schools4Tomorrow

Schools can not only save money using Open Source Software, but can also freely distribute software to students and parents to
use on their home computers. This allows schools to standardize on document formats, forms, and presentation masters with no
additional cost. The overall savings for schools and parents can easily climb into the tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

You can currently find Open Source Software in almost all areas of business, manufacturing, education, and home use. For
example, the number one web server software is an open source product called the Apache. web server. Apache powers more
than 66% of the worlds busiest web servers. Why do businesses use Apache? Is it because it is free and readily available?
Perhaps, but the real reason is that it is the best software of its kind. Apache is rated as more secure, faster and easily adaptable
to meet specific needs of companies. In the most recent survey by Netcraft, Apache recently gained 7.8 million sites worldwide,
making it the first web server software to power more than 100,000,000 sites!

For the desktop there are packages like Open Office that are available free of charge. Open Office is an Office Suite that offers
the same capabilities of Microsoft Office and has the capability to read and write files produced in Microsoft Office. Therefore,
compatibility is assured with your existing documents. Moodle is another favorite with teachers and students. Moodle is a course
management system—a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators
create effective online learning communities. It can be downloaded and used on any computer. Moodle can be hosted locally. It is
also available as a service from Moodlerooms. By leveraging the power of Moodle, Moodlerooms has created an online learning
platform that solves the instructional, financial and technology needs for K-12, Higher Education, Corporations, Government
Agencies and Non-Profits. There is a growing list of other applications that fit well in the K-12 environment. For a listing of some of
the more popular programs, click here.

The basic operating system used by many schools is Microsoft XP, with some schools moving to Microsoft Vista. The Open
Source alternative is called GNU LINUX. Updated verisons of it come out all the time with added features and improved security -
and you can always upgrade to them for free. This is a significant change from the upgrade cycle moving from Windows95 to
Window98 to Windows2000 to Windows Millenium Edition to Windows NT to WindowsXP to Windows Vista, and soon to
Windows 7. GNU LINUX is free from start to the finish.

There is no question that Microsoft Windows is a fine operating system, especially in its more recent versions. Windows 7 will no
doubt prove to be even better (we hope). However, it is unquestionable that Linux, which powers some of the world's smallest
real-time devices (cell phones, PDA's, various GPS units, etc.) as well as some of the world's fastest supercomputers, is also an
excellent operating system - especially for the desktop. The bottom line is cost and effectiveness. Open Source and Linux
deserve your consideration.

This is the first in a series of articles about affordability, sustainabillity, repeatability and scalability. Each will focus on specific
cases where schools can save significant amount of cash by opting for the road less traveled.

- The Schools4Tomorrow Team