Romania Considering Ubuntu In Its Schools!

The ministry has released a list of tentative applications recommended to be used along with GNU/Linux.

Plagued by a slew of unlicensed or old unsupported versions of proprietary software like Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office in many of its schools, the Romanian Education Ministry is now considering a switch to open source solutions like GNU/Linux: Ubuntu and Edubuntu in particular.

Recently, the Ministry has released a list of tentative applications recommended to be used along with GNU/Linux: LibreOffice, Firefox, Inkscape and the GIMP, GNU Octave, FreeCAD, Geany and Lazarus to name a few. However, as of now the list is only 'experimental' with no specific information available if at all such a move will be official at some point of time. "Until we can provide national support for this product, including localisation in Romanian and national minority languages, the decision to use this distribution is up to each school." OSOR quoted the Ministry as saying.

Earlier, in another major development the Penn Manor High School in the US rolled out as many as 1,725 'Linux' powered laptops to its students. Linux, as we see in the current scenario, has become the part and parcel of the 'entire' organisation. For almost a decade it has been powering servers and providing the platform for its websites, storage, and learning management systems, therefore Linux was of course was the natural choice when it came to providing its students the right 'tool' to teach and grasp. The Penn Manor High School has provided every student grades 9-12 an Acer TravelMate laptop pre-loaded with Ubuntu 13.10. Following a roughly 5-minute orientation, students were then let lose to use their creative genius with the devices. In all probability, the world is now embracing open source technology like never before!

Previously, the UK government gave up on Microsoft's Office, instead resorting to open source alternatives. The move come in order to restrict expenditure and put an end to 'oligopoly' in the IT market. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said, "The software we use in government is still supplied by just a few large companies. A tiny oligopoly dominates the marketplace. I want to see a greater range of software used, so civil servants have access to the information they need and can get their work done without having to buy a particular brand of software. In the first instance, this will help departments to do something as simple as share documents with each other more easily. But it will also make it easier for the public to use and share government information."

This new emerging fascination for open source technology is a stepping stone for all those who live and breathe open source. The future indeed is shiny for all things deemed 'open'!