[Technical] Interestingcomputers-in-education

[Keith Richardson]

My very first computer - pre IBM PC! Threw it our 10 years ago.
Ahhhhhhh, memories...
Keith


On Sun, 7 Aug 2005 11:26:06 +1000, "Stephen Digby DEET"
<digby.stephen.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> said:
> Remember Microbee ?? 
> I think an Australian OS developed for the education market and linked to
> HW.
> Got quite a foothold in WA and a few other places until it was
> overwhelmed.
> 
> Amazing to think what could happen if Australian Governement thought of
> all government expenditures as part of an industry
> development fund.....
> 
> 
> ==================================
> Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> digby.stephen.p at edumail.vic.gov.au
> Cheltenham Secondary College
> www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au
> Ph: 613 955 55 955  Fx: 9555 8617
> ==================================
>  
> 
> To you I am an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition. - Woody Allen
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tech-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:tech-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Con Zymaris
> Sent: Sunday, 7 August 2005 8:42 AM
> To: Technical Discussion in Schools Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Technical] Interestingcomputers-in-education
> 
> On Sat, Aug 06, 2005 at 09:40:31PM +1000, Stephen Digby DEET wrote:
> > Agree that such large purchases should definitely go to tender. Amazed 
> > that it didn't.  Just thought that microsoft won !
> 
> Most people think very much along these lines. 
> 
> Most people think that Microsoft just won the tender. There was no tender
> in the first place. The only tender was in deciding which
> Microsoft reseller would get the nod to distribute the software.
> 
> In fact, none of the major government purchases of Microsoft software, in
> every state, and not just in Education, are done this way.
> We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars for every software refresh
> cycle, merely handed to Microsoft, with no opportunity for
> competition.
> 
> Now you know why we are taking this to the ACCC. The fact that no other
> firm has done this yet, not even any of the huge players, is
> an indication of how much Microsoft is feared in the industry.
> 
> You will find that Microsoft is feared just as much by the Department of
> Education. Which is why they are too scared to push out
> copies of OpenOffice.org and many other Windows-based open source
> applications to the public schools - "As it might annoy
> Microsoft..."
> 
> It's also probably one of the reasons why Microsoft's student programming
> competition, looking to push VB.Net down as many students'
> throats as possible, is supported by the Department of Education.
> Meanwhile OSV's Wide Open Code open source competition, was not.
> Even after valiant efforts by some DE&T staffers, and many months effort
> on our part.
> 
> One more thing. Several years ago, at one of the national MCEETYA
> (http://www.mceetya.edu.au/) meetings, there was a directive adopted that
> the states' education minsitries would go forth and
> prepare plans and consider options for deploying future environemts on
> both Microsoft and open source platforms by the next years'
> meeting. Come next year, all the states' Departments of Education came
> back to their Ministers with Microsoft options only.
> 
> _This_ is the environment and culture we're working to change. Luckily we
> like a challenge ;-)
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne,
> Australia
> Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
> Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477
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Keith Richardson
Leibler Yavneh College
Elsternwick Ph (03)9528 4911
keithcr at fastmail.fm