This article is reprinted from DesktopLinux.com

School districts around the world are increasingly examining the benefits of utilizing open-source software -- whether on servers and desktops, or via so-called Web 2.0 services freely available online. The Plano, Texas, school district is a recent example of this trend, according to an article published on eSchoolNews.com.

"Within five years, Associate Superintendent for Technology and Academic Services Jim Hirsch predicts, not a single desktop in the 52,000-student school system in metropolitan Dallas will carry the image of a proprietary school software program. Gone will be the familiar Microsoft applications and desktop icons that over the years have become synonymous with document creation," writes senior editor Corey Murray.

"Economics and advancements in technology are fueling this latest trend in school software, proponents of the movement say -- but it's also about customization, and the desire to employ a variety of solutions as users see fit," Murray continues.

DesktopLinux.com has been monitoring this trend closely. For example, during the past few years, several thousand Linspire-loaded PCs have been deployed in dozens of classrooms across the state of Indiana in an trial program that has been widely successful; some 12,500 high schools in India moved to Linux-only computers last August; and, a special version of Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 2.0 has been installed in school computers in Norway and Germany. Other Linux and open source school projects are under way in the U.K., Chile, Italy, Macedonia, and China.

To read the entire eSchoolNews.com article, go here

Related stories:

• Richard Stallman on Kerela's desktop Linux adoption
  
• Indian schools to use homebrew Debian distro
  
• 12,500 Indian high schools move to GNU/Linux
  
• Open Source worthy of "serious consideration" by schools, UK agency advises
  
• Chilean government moves to GNU/Linux in high schools
  
• UK government report gives nod to open source
  
• GNU/Linux displaces 2,460 Windows XP desktops in rural Italian schools
  
• Macedonia installs 5,000 GNU/Linux PCs in schools
  
• China to install 142,000 GNU/Linux PCs in classrooms