Re:I for one, agree (Score 1)

There are a couple of huge costs with open source software that everyone outside of education forgets to think about. First, schools get great deals on software. Granted it is not free, but highly, highly reduced from what individuals and corporations must pay. Secondly, most schools do not have the personnel to manage open source systems. With many schools paying tech staff around $10 - $15 an hour, they are unable to hire persons who have the expertise in OSS. Paying for consultants is usually out of the question. Because of numerous privacy laws (FERPA among others), students cannot be given enough rights to a school's network to help maintain and implement OSS (assuming they had the knowledge). Lastly, very little curriculum or training materials for open source software is available. There are mountains of books and other materials available for purchased software (sometimes given to schools for free). Many educators do no have the time to learn new software, alter the curriculum and create new training materials. As a high school teacher, I was responsible for over 160 students a day. Don't get me wrong - I love open source software, and nothing would make me happier to see open source software in the schools. The hurdles and the cost to implement open source software (staffing, training, and new educational documentation) is too high to make the switch.