The decision by the NSW Government and Department of Education to adopt Microsoft's operating system as the foundation for its upcoming rollout of mini-laptops (or netbooks) for NSW students and teachers has upset the local open source community.
Con Zymaris, CEO of long-running Linux firm Cybersource told CRN the community sees the missed opportunity to introduce Linux and open source software into education as a real problem for Australian students, Australian taxpayers and Australia's indigenous IT industry.
"At the very least, we expect that the NSW DET should release to the public, the complete report of their comparison analysis between Linux and Microsoft.
"The fact that they've awarded the deal to Microsoft without this explanation is a serious concern.
"We believe that Linux and open source software can deliver a better educational experience to students," he said.
Zymaris said rather than think outside the box, for the Department, this decision was merely business as usual.
John Donovan vice president of channels APAC for Novell Australia said the DET's decision was based on a balanced evaluation.
However there would've been long term cost savings with an open platform.
"Governments, banks, manufacturers and significant companies have chosen to go with open source platforms. It's disappointing but I wouldn't question the selection.
"Suse Linux is a solid operating system and helps with file transfer in significantly diverse netbooks," said Donovan.
Donovan told CRN there are some countries including UK, India, China and Japan that are supportive of adopting an open source platform.
However there were segments of the market not investing in Linux, that are now changing their position with the global financial crisis, he said.
"It can reduce running an operating system and makes a lot of sense to be able to lower operating costs," he said.
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