[Linux-aus] Fwd: [LACTTE] Notes for Council Meeting 2010/02/03

[Silvia Pfeiffer]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 4:08 PM, Terry Dawson <terry at linux.org.au> wrote:
> Silvia Pfeiffer wrote:
>
>> At my son's school, every few months they receive a letter (yes on
>> paper) from a Microsoft certified partner about how they have special
>> offers for education on their software. These letters get posted into
>> my school's weekly update letter, so reach every single student. I
>> can't attach a sample cause it contains username and password for the
>> school.
>>
>> I am wondering firstly if such things happen at other schools, too,
>
> I've not seen it at our kids schools, but it doesn't surprise me. The
> school newsletters take all sorts of material; some presumably paid
> slots and others community oriented.
>
> I think your idea is a very interesting one. It sounds simple enough.
> What would such a letter offer though? Would we not somehow need to back
> it up with some support option?
>

The MS letter says something like:

* encourage your student community to take advantage of the new upgrade
* pleased to announce a new upgrade to blah software (OS in this case)
* encourage you to advertise this special offer in your newletter,
noticeboards, or through website to ensure students have access to the
latest OS not only at school but also at home
* who is eligible / how to order
* email and phone number should any assistance be required

I think we could do something like this talking about e.g. Edubuntu
* how it is a modern and free OS,
* how it comes with a lot of educations software including blah and blah,
* how it runs on every computer,
* maybe even how it can be run on a win machine to test it out,
* where to download or order DVDs from,
* online forum where to get help,
* encourage students to try out open source software since it allows
more indepth learning of computer capabilities
* encourage advertising in newsletter etc

If ppl are particularly keen, they could even put down their
email/phone contact for enquiries - maybe we could even do a different
person in every state.

Cheers,
Silvia.