Lesson Number One: Get Rid Of Microsoft

Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) released the findings of its first comparative study into the savings and benefits enjoyed by the few schools in the UK that have switched to open source software.

The report shows, for example, that these schools spend less than half of what their Microsoft-enthralled contemporaries have to fork out on IT support. Other benefits include lower expenditure on software licensing, and computers that have to be upgraded less frequently because they no longer dance to the beat of Microsoft's drum. The headline in the Times Educational Supplement said it all: 'Ditching Microsoft could save millions.'