[Yr7-10it] Lenovo has won a contract to provide 200, 000 laptops for NSW secondary school students

[Roland Gesthuizen]

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."

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.

With primary school students again missing out, I wonder how much thought
was given to a FLOSS netbook option?

Regards Roland

2009/4/2 Bill Kerr <billkerr at gmail.com>

>
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/lenovo-firm-wins-150m-nsw-deal/2009/04/01/1238261623058.html
>
> "Chinese computer company Lenovo has won a contract to provide 200,000
> laptops for NSW secondary school students.
>
> The NSW government has also announced agreements reached with software
> giants Microsoft and Adobe to provide an extensive suite of software for the
> laptops..."
> Laptops, not netbooks
> Secondary not Primary
> 200,000 not 10,000
>
> 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)
>
> (looking forward to the day when its FLOSS all the way down)
>
> 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)
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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