I have an IT friend who has been joking about our sudden enthusiasm towards stimulating the economy of our neighbors instead of our own. "Buy a plasma TV with your bonus and help China instead of the struggling family, next door."<br>
<br>He did cynically add that with the planning of some IT projects sometimes spanning a couple of years and with funding already allocated from a budget cycle that predated the recent financial collapse, somebody probably just wanted closure on the project before good economic-sense sinks in.<br>
<br>With primary school students again missing out, I wonder how much thought was given to a FLOSS netbook option?<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/4/2 Bill Kerr <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:billkerr@gmail.com">billkerr@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/lenovo-firm-wins-150m-nsw-deal/2009/04/01/1238261623058.html" target="_blank">http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/lenovo-firm-wins-150m-nsw-deal/2009/04/01/1238261623058.html</a><br>
<p>"Chinese computer company Lenovo has won a contract to provide
200,000 laptops for NSW secondary school students.</p>
<p>The NSW government has also announced agreements reached with
software giants Microsoft and Adobe to provide an extensive suite
of software for the laptops..."</p>Laptops, not netbooks<br>Secondary not Primary<br>200,000 not 10,000<br><br>By my back of the envelope calculations they are paying more for the MS and adobe software in NSW (about $120 per machine in NSW cf. $40 per machine in Victoria)<br>
<br>(looking forward to the day when its FLOSS all the way down)<br><br>I think the decision to go primary is better strategically (younger minds are more adaptable, still being wired) and so is the decision for netbooks rather than laptops (lighter, cheaper, more robust adds up to greater chance of success for 24/7 take home strategy)<br>
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<a href="http://www.vitta.org.au" target="_blank"> http://www.vitta.org.au </a> - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br>
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