Thoughts from the abyss

This is exactly what I like to see dealing with open-source software. I received this link about Brandon Elementary School in Atlanta, in my daily NewsForge e-mail today. Two volunteer parents became sick of fixing ‘Doze computers and got the idea to turn all the PCs into Linux thin clients running off the Linux Terminal Server Project. Read the story for the full details, but it’s nice to see this kind of stuff. It gives a good name to open source, and best of all helps people turn old hardware into something useful for folks to use. Basically, the Atlanta school district liked everything well enough to launch a pilot program to do the same thing in other schools in the area.

The more I work with open-source software, the more of an appreciation I gain for it. If it weren’t for open source, I wouldn’t be pecking away at the keyboard this very moment. I wouldn’t be working in the field that I am, and I wouldn’t be doing so well and happy in a career that I never imagined I would be in. I’m not able to donate huge amounts of cash to the projects that I use, instead I’m starting to contribute a bit of time and writing that I post on here to try to express my thanks. Plus, it helps give something useful back for others to use. I just really like to see stories like this one, where someone like a bunch of kids can be helped by open source.