[NBLUG/talk] advocacy question

[Jordan Erickson]

Hey Mike,

I own a technical consulting company in Santa Rosa that already works 
with local schools in deploying open-source solutions (specifically 
Ubuntu Linux and LTSP [thin clients]). It's a double win with saving 
pretty much 100% in software licensing costs, as well as being able to 
use old hardware for new software, since everything runs on the 
server-side and the clients are basically graphical 'dumb terminals' 
that don't need a whole lot of horsepower to run. If you have low-power 
thin-clients running, that = massive energy savings over a typical 
desktop client (think 10-30 watts vs. 400). I've also put together cool 
money/energy saving things such as automatic client shutdown at a 
specified time, which I'm going to be implementing at one of my schools 
this week, and if everything works well, at the other 6.

I'd love to meet with you and talk about this more. Shoot me an e-mail 
and maybe we can arrange a "field trip" to one of the schools I've been 
administrating - that'd probably be the best demo.

Cheers,
Jordan

-- 
Jordan Erickson
Owner, Logical Networking Solutions
http://www.logicalnetworking.net
707-636-5678

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Mike Rice wrote:
> Shortly after I moved to this small burg of about 15,000, the local school district announced a shortage of funding from the state and local tax shortfalls. There would be several cuts, but the superintendent wanted the public's opinions on where cuts could logically be made. There's only one elementary, one middle and one high school, and football is definitely on the chopping block. 
>
> I piped up and said that perhaps some licensing costs could be saved by using FOSS solutions for IT alongside or instead of proprietary. Apparently he'd heard this before, but my letter convinced him to think more on the subject. I've been invited to talk to him and then give a presentation to the district administrators a week from Monday on examples and solutions.
>
> Now that I've got my foot stuck in the tar-baby, I think I need the clarity of input from people who know more than I do. 
> So I ask you all, what would you do? 
> Without knowing what solutions they have in place currently, what ideas could be useful for individual users, networking, servers, etc.? 
> And, if you had to perform a presentation, what hardware/software/setup would you bring? 
>
> I figure on a reasonable script and answers planned for several questions, maybe a clean, operational laptop to demonstrate Ubuntu (or Edubuntu) and some Office Replacement software, like OpenOffice.org and Firefox/Thunderbird/Evolution. Anything else, more or less?
>
> I'm not an IT professional, but I as a freelance tech supporter I do know how to talk to people, and I have a reasonable voice.
>
> I will entertain any answers you give, as people today aren't willing to spend where it isn't necessary.
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Mike Rice
>
>
>
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