This kinda news is not really that un-common today.
Hmmmm - I wonder ….
http://business.newsforge.com/business/05/09/28/1843234.shtml
Old school cuts ties with Windows
Monday October 10, 2005 (09:00 AM GMT)
By: Tina Gasperson
The Mall School for boys in Richmond, UK, has been around for 133 years, and to IT head Sue Warrington, it seemed like the prep school’s Windows network was almost as old. Recently, the school got rid of its aging collection of "fat client" PCs and purchased a brand new network of Linux thin clients, including all the software a bunch of 4- to 13-year-old boys could possibly need, for a lot less than a proprietary solution.
Warrington teaches computing to the Mall School’s 350 students, and "looks after the system." When it came time to renew Windows licenses, she had a problem with the cost. Budget concerns meant that she would have to find a better solution, and cutting back on the number of workstations was not an option — there were only 13 PCs to go around because it was too expensive to provide more.
In July 2005, Warrington contacted Sirius, a local IT consultancy that specializes in providing open source software solutions. By the end of the summer break, Sirius project manager John Spencer had helped the school replace the aging Windows network with a cutting-edge Linux thin-client network that consists of 28 workstations and a server running the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). The new system cost less than £15,000, which Warrington estimates is about 60% of the cost of a Windows equivalent, with no expensive licensing fees.
Ten of the 28 new machines are traditional dual-boot PCs that allow the staff to use Windows XP to run the school’s administration software. The rest of the workstations are thin clients used by the students, with access to software packages controlled via the server. The thin clients provide all the usual advantages over machines with hard drives: lower maintenance costs, less down time, and less admin time. An extra benefit for the school is lower electricity bills: the Mall expects to save more than £1,000 on its power bill each year.
Warrington says the boys took no time catching on to the new system. "The students are very quick. Once they got into OpenOffice.org they realized a lot of the features are the same." And Warrington likes it too. "I’m quite happy to work in the open environment. It’s a lot smoother."
Many of Warrington’s sysadmin tasks are easier in Linux than they were on the Windows network. For instance, "adding a new user is much easier. It takes me only seconds — in the old environment it would have taken a lot longer."
In addition to the OpenOffice.org suite, the Mall School is running Scribus desktop publishing, the GIMP, Tux Paint, Firefox, Evolution, and TuxTyping, among others. Warrington is happy. "It’s a lot more reliable," she says, "and it’s all free."
No, it’s not a JOKE! It’s a web site where you can avoid the cost and hassle of publishing and it IS a "LULU"! 
The founder of RedHat is now involved in "publishing". In a conversation with TWIT [This Week In Technology a PodCast available via ITunes], he describes LuLu. The web site address is http://www.lulu.com/
What can be published? Just about anything! Books, Calendars, Images, Music & Audio, Video, and MORE! To see a listing go to: http://www.lulu.com/browse/everything.php
Check it out!
Got ITunes? Well DO! It’s COOL!
There’s a version for Windows XP as well as MacOSX.
May as well use Podcasting to tell you about a "LuLu" (a site recently discovered).
LuLu is a web site where anyone CAN publish. All kinds of things, like Brochures (public relations), e-Book (entire course), Calendars (for ISD/campus), ISD Documentation of any kind, CD/DV, Digital Media (everything - Audio/Video/Software).
But I digress … first ITunes …
After downloading and installing, take a listen to "esc3 DOT ORG’s Podcast"!
Here’s how in ITunes:
1. Launch ITunes
2. Select "PodCast" in the source column
3. From the "Advanced" menu of ITunes, select "Subscribe to a Podcast"
4. In the dialog box that opens, type in this URL: http://www.esc3.org/podcasting/esc3dotorg.xml
5. You should see a new entry for "esc3 DOT ORG" in your listing of Podcast.
Click the turn-down triangle icon to see what items are in there. IF there any with a "Get" button
next to them, click it!
After acquiring both (there are only 2 right now), a "blue dot" should appear beside each item. To listen, double click the "blue dot" - it should turn to a "speaker" icon and the cast should start playing.
Don’t have ITunes, but have something that will play MP3 files? Good!
Here’s how via the Web:
1. Go to: http://www.esc3.org/
2. Click on "Podcasting" link.
3. On the following page (the Podcast page), click the button that says "Subscribe to esc3 DOT ORG".
That click should take you to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Esc3DotOrg where you can listen via the web (uhhhh, if your browser knows what to do with an MP3 file)!
Well, that’s it for this one … adios for now!
Ok - I admit it, I’m CHEAP! I like “free stuff”, but only the GOOD “free stuff” and since I’ve been in the area of Education for 30 plus years now, I tend to focus on Open Source Solutions for Education in the K12 arena.
That’s what this blog is about! Investigating Open Source Solutions for K12 schools and SHARING that information with anyone with an “open mind”!
So, welcome! Hope you find something useful here!