Tom Hoffman (Tuttle SVC) writes:

From the open source point of view, stimulus can cut two ways. This looks like money to buy stuff now, and since you don’t buy open source software at all, people may just overlook open source options. Even so, having many more computers in kids hands to take advantage of open source software down the road is still good if people are willing to be more open minded about what goes on them.

The real win, however, is if a small chunk of the stimulus can go toward writing freely licensed software. It fits the paradigm of “stimulus” since a lot of useful software can be written in two years with government funding and then released to the community and commercial sector for ongoing use and support.

What would I do with the money? Allow me to reveal my ignorance:

1. Put significant amount away for each school district so that you can have a hardware refresh cycle that’s reliable (you know, generate interest).
2. Create NewTech High Schools in grades 6-12 that focus on project-based learning and make technology ubiquitous (e.g. computers, Internet access)
3. Provide required professional learning for all teachers that is focused on project-based learning and involves using technology.
4. Pay school districts extra that throw away their curriculum scope and sequence and require their district curriculum developers to get re-trained in PBL+Technology approaches.
5. don’t spend ANY money on office suites (use OpenOffice) and desktop operating systems (use UbuntuLinux), and do spend money on massive training programs that show how to support free open source software.

Ok, what would you do?

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