Now we run Windows Server 2012 with no GUI, virtualized, and admin with powershell. We've ripped out tens of thousands of dollars of Red Hat; windows is cheaper.

But how can that be? Linux is free?! /sarcasm

Windows Server 2012 R2 Core? What about Ubuntu JeOS? (Just Enough OS)

Or you could just have the kids learn a 4 digit PIN, like the majority of schools in America do...

Honestly, the cashier has a keypad, the kid just types in their PIN after the cashier adds up their purchase, and the account is debited (unless the student is eligible for a free meal, in which case the student does the exact same thing, but no money is deducted from an account - thus removing the stigma of being from a low income family, at least as far as lunch in the cafeteria is concerned)...

Imagine the savings if they simply went off computers entirely and reverted back to pen and paper! They could fire all their IT folks...

Who needs a website? You can just put bulletin boards all around town!

The savings are amazing!

Let me guess - the high school you currently attend has laptop carts full of chromebooks, and that's how you just know they'd work great for government workers?

Yeah, managing 8,300 Linux desktops and user accounts requires nothing more than a couple shell scripts...

Please explain how you propose they manage those 8,30 desktops and user accounts without Active Directory, Group Policies, or System Center - all of which are included when you license a Windows operating system...

Ubuntu wants $105/yr for their desktop management solution...

Yeah, the future of Microsoft is based on giving away free upgrades to a 14 year-old OS...

Has Linux cracked 2% of desktop users? Last I saw MS Vista had nearly ten times larger market share than ALL Linux desktops...

Because government transparency is based on their choice of a desktop operating system...

And no, it isn't based on file formats used by your preferred office application suite either.

Welcome to Slashdot! ;^)

Did you really just try and compare Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 with Kubuntu?

Apples and oranges.

It makes me question your actual experiences with both...

they prefer the games because its OSS.

Seriously, THAT is why they prefer those particular games, because they are OSS?

Puh-leeze.

Either it is because they are cheaper/free OR they are just simply better games.

Go price a management solution for your 8,300 'free' desktops - a Ubuntu wants $105/desktop per year for a system that hopes to someday be as stabil and robust as MS Active Directory and Group Policy solutions that are (essentially) free with Windows Server...

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/...

At 8,300 desktops and $105/yr, after six years you've invested neatly $5M to manage the desktops like you used to under Windows XP... Where did the savings go?

Then again, they could just cobble together a bunch of free tools and 'roll their own' management solution, I'm sure they welcome taking on that burden in the IT department - with no additional resources... To ensure maximal savings!

It takes more than 50% to amend the Constitution...

Secession is not the same as overthrow - not even on Wikipedia...