linux or windows in state schools in andalucia

part of the reason is because Microsoft just had their biggest piracy case in history with the Andalucian authoritys.

even the part of the governement in spain that checks and fines companys for using moody sortware was using cracked windows and cracked office themselves.

so its not by choice.

www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2012/08/14/junta-set-to-pay-microsoft-e12m-for-using-unlicensed-software/

 This article might be of interest to you.

http://www.thevarguy.com/2012/09/10/ubuntu-reaches-220000-pcs-in-schools-in-spain/

I think Extremadura was the first AC to migrate to Linux in schools, starting in 2005.  

 This I can´´t get my head around, only in Spain. Got to say never used the Edbuntu but can´t imagine being that different from Ubuntu. This i feel is failing the kids. Why would you want to teach an O.S.  that is designed for expert users, non compatible with windows, when the only available help you may need is online and is designed for programming. Then again if they have messed up with Windows what choice do they have?????

It all  now makes sense or does it !!!!!!!!!!!

I have  place in a town in Andalucia called Marmolejo, 30 minutes from Cordoba . A couple of  years ago the council changed all the computers in the council buildings, including the library, from  Windows to Linux. Couldn´t understand it. Why .....I thought to myself. Why teach the kids linux when in the workplace everyone uses Windows. A new shop  opened up in Marrmolejo specialising in Linux. Did little or no business ..........................................the only job they seemed to have was to maintain the council computers. Then I discovered the shop was run by one of the sons of one of the coucillors and everything became clear..........i thought.

This message was last edited by dbd on 10/03/2013.

This message was last edited by dbd on 10/03/2013.

and all the kids use windows on their home computers for facebook or downloading films.

i hired a couple of spanish kids from la-linea in 2008 as marketing assistants and none of them had heard or Linux.

I am an advocate for Linux.

The only reason the kids know windows is because it has been the default OS on every consumer PC for decades and Microsoft spends a small fortune globally to keep it that way. However the world is changing. Large organisations are converting to Linux for 3 main reasons

1. It will do everything Microsofts offerings will do.

2. It is inherently more secure than Windows.

3, They save huge sums of money.

There are numerous other technical reasons as well including being open source which means that you can make it do whatever you want it to.

I will be in Spain in a few months touring around looking for a place to settle. I'd like to get to know any other Linux fans on here so drop me line.

Just to update you bazza 14. Linux aint going to happen (at the moment) for three main reasons.

1/ Not always compatible with windows

2/Very little help other than online forums

3/ Ineternational industry uses Windows not linux. Industry aint going to take the chance of important electronic documents not being able to be read by the recipient.

Linux is already happening. It has  / is being adopted by many banks,  goverments and other institutions. The British army and navy use it as do thier American equivalents, many EU governments have / are adopting it notably Germany, France, Spain and the UK. It is extremely popular in south America and India. The Chinese have produced thier own version for government use. I wanted to link to the article regarding Munich Citys recent conversion to Linux but apparently I can't use links until my acccount is approved, you can find it on tech republics site.

Read the article before commenting. In particular note MS desperate attempts to retain thier custom also note cost of ownship of Windows.

It will become part of the UK educational curriculum where computer science will be taught with the aid of a device called the Rasperry Pi that runs Linux i.e. they will be taught CS not how to use MS Office.

Over 90% of the worlds super computers run on it. The majority of devices that run the internet use it. Your router will probably be running it. If you have a smart TV it will be running Linux. The movie industry uses it extensively for rendering animations (that includes all the clever effects not just animated movies). Android phones and tablets run on it. Increasingly Linux is the go to solution for mission critical computing. I could go on but I think that will do.

The default linux office suite can save documents in MS office formats although there are reports of the formating not being quite the same but if the layout is important you should distribute the document as a PDF (that is why we have PDFs) and Libre Office can do that too.

Finally if you need support you can get your linux from one the commercial suppliers such as Redhat, Suse and Oracle and buy a support contract.

As I said Bazza14

"Just to update you bazza 14. Linux aint going to happen (at the moment) for three main reasons.

1/ Not always compatible with windows

2/Very little help other than online forums

3/ Ineternational industry uses Windows not linux. Industry aint going to take the chance of important electronic documents not being able to be read by the recipient. "

Don't get me wrong Bazza14 Linux is an excellent OS ..................for expert users. That is another big reason why at the moment Linux aint going to happen. Windows is aimed at novice, intermediate and ............expert users while Linux is aimed at ...............expert users. Support is also a very big reason why the both industry and the education sector in the UK is not interested in Linux. Now servers are a different issue I am talking about the OS.

I need to disspell the myth that Linux is only for expert users. Linux is no harder for the average user than Windows. Indeed it can be made to look so much like Windows that the average user would take quite some time to notice. For new users I'd recommend Mint or Ubuntu. You will find it looks different but it does not take long to figure out. Certainly as the majority of domestic users just want a web browser, chat and mail client and office apps to knock out a quick letter or simple spreadsheet, watch movies, manage photos and listen to music they will have no problem.

As for your assertion that the UK education sector is not interested in Linux! You are in for a surprise. The UK IT education policy is changing. Turning out the next generation of MS office customers is going out and producing the next generation of coders and computer savvy technologists is coming in, the teaching platform will be linux and the tool will be the Raspberry Pi. It will take time to implement across all schools but it has already started in the private education sector. The political will is there and the industry demand is there also.

Microsofts dominance in the business sector (not industry which favours UNIX / Linux) is under threat. Again it will take time but large organistions have and are making the change (to regain control of their IT infrastructure and save large sums of hard cash) and market forces will encourage competing organisations to follow suit.

I will also disspell your assertation that there is no support for Linux. Linux is available from commercial suppliers that fully support thier offerings.
 

You are well informed Bazza14, however, the introduction of linux computers will only apply in primary schools as it is in primary schools that Michael Gove wants to introuce simple coding. As no doubht you know Linux is the ideal platform to learn coding as having a CLI it requires true coding and some open source software such as Scite will allow for programming and compilation. Another problem as yet unmentioned is that many  hardware devices will not run on Linux. When I say hardware devices i am referring to prionters etc. Many drivers can be found online but not all as I recently found out when I bought a printer in ASDA and took it over to spain to use with my computer that runs Linux. I now have a brand new priner, the cardboard box of which I threw out, lying idle in Spain because there are no available drivers that I can find. They perhaps are online somewhere  but  I am  fed up trying to find them. Not an easy job which brings me back to expert users.

Sorry to hear about your printer woes but this is not a problem with Linux but with the device manufacturer not releasing a driver however more and more manufacturers are joining the free software federation and the situation is getting much better. HP fully support Linux so they are my preferred printer supplier but I've had no problem with Canon and Epson devices.

It is very unusual to find a printer that won't work. All I can suggest is you search your linux distributions forum for help or ask them for help. I don't consider this to be for experts only as I have had to do much the same on Windows machines in the past.

A solution I have used to access the advanced features of some printers is to install Virtual Box (which is a virtual computer) on your Linux machine and then install Windows in VB. This technique is also used by organisations who convert to Linux but who have unique applications that can't be ported. The Windows virtual machine is usually denied access to the internet so that it can't be targeted by cyber criminals. This might sound complicated but is very easy to do if you have ever installed Windows before. Installing VB is just  a matter of finding it in your package manager. I hope this is of some help to you.

Thanx Bazza14