從目前看，很有可能，教育市場是Linux搶占桌面PC市場的灘頭陣地。
首先讓我們看一個來自美國印第安納州的例子，在過去的一年時間中，通過政府的公共學校升級計劃，印第安納州大約有22000學生用戶從widows桌面平台遷移到了Linux平台。這件事情立刻導致微軟公司聯合IDC公司成立一個聯合智囊小組，來到印第安那展開調查，最終他們得出結論，在印第安那州Windows仍然是標准的桌面操作系統。但是我要說的是，因為種種原因，微軟公司所調查的夠州的4個大區沒有一個是在Linux桌面遷移計劃之中。
然後在采訪ACE公司的負責人的時候，他說，假如這個學校的經費足夠，他們應該會選擇windows。ACE公司公司是負責向印第安那州的公共學校提供計算機設備的公司。
但是孩子們是否關注這些呢？
我請我的兩個孩子作了個試驗。
我在一台Compaq Presario 2500上安裝了Xandros 4專業版，我的11歲女兒用它在寫作業，收集URL地址，聽音樂，還可以使用Firefox在迪士尼的網站上玩Flash游戲。同樣，我的11歲兒子也玩得非常開心。
最後他問道：“Linux和Windows有什麼區別麼？”
我反問道：“你看到有什麼區別了麼？”
他說：“沒有，我沒有感覺到。”
It looks like the education space could be the first, real place where Linux could grab beachhead in the desktop PC market.
Take a look at Indiana, for example.In about a year, through a public school grant program, State of Indiana education officials have moved at least 22,000 students from Windows-based desktops to Linux-based desktops. That led Microsoft to hold up a study by IDC's Government Insights unit, after it pointed IDC analysts to five public school districts in the Hoosier state that are still standardized on Windows. Those districts are staying away from broad adoption of Linux for kids' workstations for a variety of reasons including stability, availability of applications and, not insignificantly, because the grownups running IT in the school districts know Windows better than Linux.
"If the school district has money to spend on their own, most of them are buying Windows systems," John Samborski, vice president of ACE Computers of Arlington, Ill. told me last week. ACE has a contract to supply desktops to Indiana schools.
But kids obviously don't have as long of a history with Windows as the adults. What about them?
I wanted to find out for myself so I put Linux to the test with the two most demanding public school students I know -- my own kids.
I loaded Xandros Professional 4 onto an old Compaq Presario 2500 (I tried SLED 10, Ubuntu and an earlier version of Xandros, but Xandros Professional 4 did the best job of recognizing my wireless card and connecting to the Internet.) I put the notebook in front of my 11-year old daughter, bookmarked her webmail URL, set her up with a Google Docs account for her homework, and showed her how to use Pandora to play her favorite music. And then I walked away; a half-hour later I walked back and she was knee-deep into a Flash-based game on Disney.com via her Firefox browser. She looked happy. She later wrote a draft of an email on Google Docs and then sent it to me. Among other things, she wrote, "Thanks."
Later in the day, I sat my 10-year old son down in front of the laptop. I set him up the same way as his sister: webmail, Google Docs, Pandora. I left him alone for a half hour and, lo and behold, he found some video games, too. (It was a Saturday so I didn't crack down on the time wasting.)
"So Dad," he asked. "What is the difference between Linux and Windows?" I tried to explain but it was a waste of breath. "What difference do you see?" I asked back.
"Nothing, really."
Xandros Professional 4 lists for $99, versus anticipated Windows Vista pricing of $199. But Google Docs and OpenOffice are free, Firefox just works, and with Skype for Linux and sites like Meebo.com -- which offers free, web-based instant messaging on all the big services -- communication applications are free and completely available on Linux. (I'm sure there will be a point where I just get my daughter a Skype account instead of letting her tie up the home phone line talking to her friends after school.)
Teachers and school administrators will continue to opt for Windows for, among other reasons, because they know Windows and they know it works. But teachers and school administrators also have kids, and when they open up their own wallets to buy technology for them they'll begin to ask themselves what's the difference between Linux and Windows. And then their answers might sound similar to a 10-year old boy's.
原文鏈接：http://www.crn.com/sections/custom/custom.jhtml?articleId=196601151
