Advantages of Linux for Use in Schools

There are numerous factors that make Linux preferable to proprietary operating systems (e.g., Microsoft Windows) for use in educational institutions:

(1) Undoubtedly the most important of these is the fact that there is a zero cost of software acquisition. Proprietary software for use in schools can be obtained only with per-seat licenses or site licenses, both of which become very expensive for schools that desire to have more than just a few computers. In fact, proprietary software can easily cost more than the hardware on which it operates, and far more when the cost of license renewals and upgrades is factored in.

There are no licensing fees for Linux based on the number of users or the number of computers on which it is installed. Thus a school, school district or university can install any number of Linux systems from just a single set of CDROMs (usually two disks), which can be purchased for only a few dollars or borrowed from a faculty member or from another school. Linux can even be downloaded from the Internet for free!

The zero cost of acquisition applies not only to the basic operating system, but also to the large and growing number of high quality application programs, many of which are included in major Linux distributions and are installed automatically when Linux is installed. These applications include a full-fledged office suite that is equivalent to, and compatible with, the costly Microsoft Office suite, advanced graphics programs and a web browser that is easier to use and more technologically advanced than Internet Explorer. See Major Linux Applications for more information about some of these free applications.

When the costs of both the operating system and the application software are taken into consideration, the savings from free software can be enormous. However, there are yet additional costs to using proprietary software, as discussed below, that make the savings even greater.

(2) Linux and other open source software do not impose any complex license management requirements on their users. In fact, there is generally no need for any license management at all! This is in sharp contrast to the requirement that educational institutions devote considerable effort to making certain that each computer has the proper licenses for (a) proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows, (b) any upgrades to it and (c) application programs such as Microsoft Office as well as to monitoring licenses for (d) each Windows server to which the individual computers are connected. This is necessary in order to be able to prove that an institution is not violating the devilishly complex mandatory license agreements in the event of a Business Software Alliance (BSA) audit. The Microsoft-funded BSA routinely audits educational institutions and frequently collects very substantial fines when it determines that they are not in compliance.

(3) Students can be provided with legal copies of Linux and other open source software for use at home at no cost to the students or the schools. Schools often require that students use certain proprietary software for their assignments without providing free copies for them to use on their home machines. This frequently results in "software piracy" by students.

(4) Linux allows older and less expensive hardware to be used than is possible with Microsoft Windows, and it thus helps extend the life of old computers. In fact, many schools employ used computers at a fraction of the cost of new computers and find that they work just fine. One reason for this is that Linux is written much more compactly and thus requires less disk space and memory than does Microsoft Windows. Also, it is much easier to configure Linux to the capabilities of the particular computer on which it is being installed in order to obtain maximum performance from an older computer.

An additional feature of Linux that enables it to perform very well even on older computers is its use of the X Window System. This is an automatic technique that separates where an application runs from where it is displayed. This allows inexpensive, older computers (with limited memory and slow processors) used by individual students to appear to be running a large application program (such as graphics processing software). However, the program is actually running on a newer, more powerful computer that is connected to the older computers via a standard computer network.

It is generally necessary to purchase new computers every time an upgrade is made to the newest version of Microsoft Windows. This is because each new version requires so much more disk space and memory than the previous one due to what is often referred to as "code bloat." When upgrading Linux, however, it is very often possible to continue to use the same computers.

(5) Administration and maintenance costs can be reduced to very low levels for Linux systems after system administrators and other staff members attain a certain degree of expertise. One reason for this is the inherent stability of Linux, i.e., it rarely crashes or needs rebooting. Also, with proper configuration, Linux is highly resistant to viruses, worms, trojans and other types of malicious code, thus very little time and effort needs to be devoted to applying security patches. Security patching is a very time consuming and annoying task for Microsoft Windows administrators, both because it is required so frequently (monthly or even more often) and because the patches themselves are often less than perfect and can cause other problems.

Another reason is that the X Window System allows a single workstation to be used together with a number of simpler computers instead of requiring that each computer used by students be a high performance (and costly) workstation. This reduces both the amount of technician time spent maintaining workstations. It also makes it more difficult for students to intentionally or unintentionally alter the system's configuration and easier for a technician to restore the configuration.

(6) Linux can mitigate or eliminate the cost and disruption of frequent retraining of faculty and other staff members for new versions of the operating system and other software. This is because there are no "forced upgrades." Also, although new versions of Linux and other open source software are frequently introduced, existing and even older versions usually have more than sufficient power and functionality for most academic applications. Moreover, even if open source software is upgraded, the new versions are usually very similar to, and backwards compatible with, earlier versions, and thus little or no additional training is usually necessary.

(7) Linux can also help reduce school administrative costs by being used for administration purposes in addition to classroom use. The skills are transferrable between these two categories of applications, and in some cases the same servers can be used.

(8) The internal workings of Linux are completely open and available for inspection, modification and experimentation. The reasons are that source code is freely available and that Linux is designed to be highly configurable even without modification of the source code. This is in sharp contrast to proprietary software, for which the internal workings of the programs are hidden from users and the source code is usually not made available.

The analogy is sometimes made with the difference between purchasing an automobile for which the engine compartment can be freely opened and one for which the engine compartment has been welded shut. The former provides a much better education experience (and can be cheaper to repair) and will encourage a fraction of the owners of such cars to tinker and eventually become expert mechanics.

Its complete transparency to the curious makes Linux an ideal medium for learning about how computers really work. Inquisitive users have a tendency to turn into developers, providing a new generation of creative talent that will help keep the technology revolution on track. Sometimes they also make good teachers.

(9) The use of Linux in the classroom will encourage (or compel) teachers to learn about Linux. This will help them to understand and teach more effectively about computers. It will also give them a better foundation for understanding other aspects of technology, which, in turn, can be transmitted to students.

(10) Acquiring Linux skills has already begun to facilitate and encourage collaboration among educators and others to develop new, high quality software specifically for educational use. This is because Linux itself, as well as other open source software, was developed by a group of widely scattered, but highly skilled and motivated individuals communicating via the Internet. This development model has proved itself to be very efficient and far lower in cost than the traditional closed source approach.

(11) Linux can help prepare students for the real world in which there is a diversity of operating systems and platforms. Although most households still just use Microsoft Windows, major corporations generally employ a variety of operating systems, including Windows, various versions of Unix (Solaris, Aix, BSD, etc.), various mainframe operating systems and Linux.

Linux skills will also help prepare students for a world in which the dominance of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office for small and medium sized businesses is increasingly challenged and Linux comes to play an increasingly important role. Just as is the case with schools, businesses and other organizations of all types and sizes are finding that there are numerous compelling reasons to convert to Linux.

(12) Linux provides much greater freedom of choice about operating systems than do proprietary operating systems. This is because Linux is not really a single operating system. Rather, there dozens of different versions (also referred to as "distributions") from which to choose, each with its own unique set of characteristics and its own advocates. All are similar in that they incorporate some version of the Linux kernel and contain the same core commands and functions which have been exhaustively battle tested in the more than 30 years of Unix history. They are also similar in that they are all highly configurable by users, far more so than Microsoft Windows

Furthermore, it should be kept in mind that the choice of free, open source operating systems is even greater than the large number in the Linux family. It also includes the BSD family of Unix operating systems, the most popular of which is FreeBSD. For general classroom purposes, however, Linux is probably preferable to any of the BSDs because it is easier to administer and because there is a greater number of readily available application programs.

There are still more choices, although like BSD, they should probably be reserved for the more advanced classes in computer science. Of particular interest is MINIX, which was developed specifically for studying the internal workings of operating systems and which led to the development of Linux.

(13) Open source software tends to be compliant with industry standards and thus protects school data from becoming locked into proprietary file formats which the schools do not own and which may become unsupported, obsolete and even inaccessable in the future.

Source: http://www.bellevuelinux.org/linux_educ.html